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A Cemetery Place for the Guard, the Reserves and ROTC — Who Pays, and Who Is Inside

Since 1 July 2024 the State Veterans Affairs Board may provide interments in the state veterans cemeteries under the federal Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act. The class is named in the statute: a reserve component member, an Army or Air National Guard member, an Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC member, and the spouse, minor child or unmarried adult child of any of them. All costs of the interment are paid by the applicant unless federal or state aid is specifically provided.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Since 1 July 2024 the State Veterans Affairs Board may provide interments in the state veterans cemeteries under the federal Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act. The class is named in the statute: a reserve component member, an Army or Air National Guard member, an Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC member, and the spouse, minor child or unmarried adult child of any of them. All costs of the interment are paid by the applicant unless federal or state aid is specifically provided.

What it's worth: A place in a state veterans cemetery for a class the national cemeteries do not take — at the family’s own cost

  • This is ACCESS, not a payment. The statute says in terms that all costs associated with the interment shall be paid by the individuals submitting an application unless federal or state aid is specifically provided.
  • The weight reflects the difference between a state veterans cemetery place and a commercial plot and interment, which the board does not publish and which varies by county.
  • The charges the cemeteries actually levy are in the separate state cemeteries record; this record is about who is let in, not what the invoice says.

Who is entitled to it

  • Reserve component and National Guard service is the class this subsection was written for.
  • The spouse, minor child and unmarried adult child of a member are named in the same subsection.
  • Discharge or release under conditions other than dishonorable is the test the subsection sets.
  • You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Establish which limb applies before anything else, because the four are drafted differently. A reserve component member qualifies on discharge or release under conditions other than dishonorable, OR on a death under conditions other than dishonorable while still a member. A National Guard member qualifies on discharge or release under conditions other than dishonorable while a member. An ROTC member of the Army, Navy or Air Force qualifies only where death occurs under conditions other than dishonorable while a member.
  2. 2The family limb follows the member. A spouse of any member described above is inside it, and so is a minor child or unmarried adult child as 38 U.S.C. §2402(a)(5) defines one.
  3. 3Budget for the whole cost. Subsection (6) puts every cost of the interment on the applicant unless federal or state aid is specifically provided for it — this route was written to open the gate, not to pay the bill.
  4. 4Apply to the board, not to the cemetery alone. The State Veterans Affairs Board has the primary responsibility for verifying eligibility for interment, and applications are processed in accordance with rules and regulations it promulgates.
  5. 5Ask which cemetery. The board is authorised to establish, operate and maintain additional veterans cemeteries beyond the original one, so confirm which sites are open before making arrangements.
  6. 6Have the service record ready in the form the board wants. Eligibility for the ordinary route is the same as for interment in a national cemetery under federal law, so the documents are the federal ones.
  7. 7A county veterans service officer can put the subsection in front of the board if a family is told the member does not qualify — this route is recent enough that it is still being missed.
Form
Application for interment to the State Veterans Affairs Board, processed under the board’s rules
File with
Mississippi Veterans Affairs, through the cemetery office and the funeral director
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionA Guard or Reserve member who never served a qualifying period of active duty is usually told, correctly, that a national cemetery will not take them. That answer is now wrong for the state cemeteries here. Since 1 July 2024 subsection (6) opens them to reserve component and National Guard members, to ROTC members who die in the programme, and to their spouses and children.
CorrectionThis is not a free burial and the statute does not pretend otherwise: all costs associated with the interment are on the applicant unless federal or state aid is specifically provided. Read it alongside the state cemeteries record for what the charges are.
Worth knowingThe ROTC limb is the narrowest of the four and is easy to misread. It reaches a member of the Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC only where the DEATH occurs under conditions other than dishonorable while the person is a member — there is no route for a former cadet who has left the programme.
Known gapThe board’s rules made under subsection (4) were not read this session, so the application form, the proof required for the reserve and ROTC limbs, and whether any state aid has in fact been provided against the interment cost are all unverified. The board is the place to settle them.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.