burialstate

Honor and Remember Flag — the State’s Symbol of Remembrance, With No 2011 Cut-Off

Tennessee made the Honor and Remember Flag its symbol of remembrance for members of the armed forces who lost their lives while serving, or as a result of service, and for their families. Unlike the Fallen Hero Medal it carries no date cut-off and is not confined to combat circumstances.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: A state symbol of remembrance for the family of a service member who died while serving or as a result of service

This is a recognition, not a payment. We publish it because families are entitled to know it exists and to ask the department for it.
The department describes the flag as honouring all members of the United States Armed Forces who have lost their lives while serving, or as a result of service, and their families. That wording is broader than the Fallen Hero Medal’s.
The department’s page does not publish a request process, an eligibility check, or a supplier, so we do not claim one.

Who is entitled to it

The flag honours the fallen and their families.
Your home is in Tennessee.

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

1Contact the Department of Veterans Services and ask how a family obtains the flag. The department publishes the flag on its own burial benefits pages but publishes no request form, so the phone call is the route: (615) 741-2345, or TN.Veterans@tn.gov.
2Say plainly how your service member died. The wording the department uses is "while serving, or as a result of service" — which reaches a death after service that was caused by it, not only a death in uniform.
3Do not let a date stop you asking. Public Chapter No. 539 was passed on 3 March 2014 and approved on 17 March 2014, and the department’s page states no cut-off for the circumstances of death.
4Ask about the Tennessee Fallen Hero Medal in the same conversation, and ask which of the two your family fits. They are separate recognitions with different tests, and a family can be outside one and inside the other.
5Ask who supplies the flag and whether the department or a veterans organisation presents it, because the department’s page does not say.

Form: No published form — ask the department
File with: Tennessee Department of Veterans Services
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionA family turned away from the Tennessee Fallen Hero Medal should not assume it has been turned away from the flag. The medal is confined to combat circumstances and to deaths on or after 1 July 2011. The flag’s published wording — lost their lives while serving, or as a result of service — carries neither limit.

Known gapThe department publishes no request process, no eligibility verification and no supplier for the flag. We publish what the department publishes and no more; treat the department’s phone line as the only route we can evidence.

Known gapPublic Chapter No. 539 itself was not read this session — no official Tennessee host served us the act text on 23 August 2026 — so what the chapter obliges the state to do, as opposed to what it declares, is unverified here.

Sources

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