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Honor guard guaranteed for veterans' funerals By PAUL FATTIG EAGLE POINT -- The Eagle Point National Cemetery staff, which has been relying on a cadre of volunteers for years to provide military funerals for veterans, is getting a little additional help from Uncle Sam. Under a new Department of Defense policy that went into effect Jan. 1, all deceased veterans are now guaranteed an honor guard. Although the policy, which applies to eligible veterans at all cemeteries, is new, the procedure is nothing new to cemetery director Darryl Ferrell and his staff. For years, they have been providing military honors at the 43-acre cemetery where an average 55 veterans are buried each month. The difference is that Congress last year allocated $5 million to pay travel expenses and a small stipend to members of the military reserves and National Guard who volunteer to participate in the ceremonies throughout the nation. Under the policy, the honor guard will include at least two uniformed military personnel, retired service members or reservists, Ferrell said. At least one member of the honor guard must be from the branch of the service in which the deceased veteran served. The ceremony also will include the playing of taps and the folding of the American flag at veterans' funerals. "But the family has to request it," said Ferrell, a retired Army enlisted man who rose to the rank of first sergeant. To be eligible for military honors, a veteran must have served at least two years in the active military and must not have a dishonorable discharge. Members or former members of the active reserve also are eligible. Members of Congress had attempted several times in recent years to institutionalize honor guards. But it was not until Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced legislation last year that the campaign was successful. Eventually, the proposal was passed as part of the 2000 defense authorization act. There will be plenty of need for honor guards at the Eagle Point cemetery in the coming decades, Ferrell said, noting that about 1,500 American veterans die daily. Most of the deceased in recent years are World War II era veterans. In addition to being available to veterans and their spouses from Southern Oregon and Northern California, the 43-acre cemetery accepts remains of those eligible from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, northern Utah and northern Nevada. There are a little more than 8,000 occupied grave sites now at the cemetery. Ferrell has been relying on volunteers like the members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4116 in Rogue River. Local members of the Marine Corps League, the National Guard unit and other volunteer veterans groups also step forward to serve as honor guards. "Hopefully, in the future we will have a permanent honor guard here," he said. "But that will be a long way in the future." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA