United States Army Regulations (AR-290-5)
Arlington National Cemetery

2.0 INTERMENTS AND DISINTERMENTS
2.1 Explanation of terms.
For purposes of this regulation, the following apply:

2.1.A Interment.
a. Interment. Either ground burial or the inurnment of cremated remains, except where the context of this chapter makes clear that only ground burial is referred to.

2.1.B Armed Forces.
b. Armed Forces. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and their Reserve Components. Reserve Components of the Armed Forces are--
(1) Army National Guard of the Unites States
(2) Army Reserve
(3) Naval Reserve
(4) Marine Corps Reserve
(5) Air National Guard of the United States
(6) Air Force Reserve
(7) Coast Guard Reserve

2.1.C Active duty.
c. Active duty. Full time duty in the active military service of the United States. This includes duty on the active list; full-time training duty; annual training duty; attendance (while in the active military service) at a school designated as a Service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department concerned; and service as a cadet at the United States Military, Air Force or Coast Guard Academy, or as a midshipman at the United States Naval

2.1.D Unmarried adult dependent child.
d. Unmarried adult dependent child. A natural, step, or adopted son or daughter of the eligible service-connected parent who is (1) unmarried; (2) permanently incapable of self-support because of physical or mental disability incurred before age 21; and (3) up to the time of death, dependent for support upon the service-connected parent or surviving parent (or on others if both parents are deceased) because of physical or mental condition.

2.1.E Minor child.
e. Minor child. A natural, step, or adopted son or daughter of the eligible service-connected parent who is unmarried and less than 21 or who, after attaining age 21 and until completion of his or her education or training (but not after age 23), is pursuing a course of instruction at an approved institution.

2.1.F Close relative.
f. Close relative. Close relatives include the spouse, parents, adult brothers and sisters and adult natural, step or adopted children of a decedent. So far as requests for disinterment are concerned, the term also refers to the person who requested the original interment, if living.

2.1.G President or former President of the United States.
g. President or former President of the United States. The President or former President of the United States who, in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, is a "member or former member of the Armed Forces who served..." (within the meaning of 24 USC 281).

2.2 Authority for interments.
The Act of 14 May 1948 (62 Stat. 234), as amended by the Act of 14 September 1959 (73 Stat. 547; 24 USC 281), and other laws specifically cited in this regulation authorize interment in Arlington and Soldiers' Home National Cemeteries under such regulations as the Secretary of the Army may, with the approval of the Secretary of Defense, prescribe.

2.3 Special provisions.
a. All eligible persons will be assigned graves, without discrimination as to military rank, race, color, sex, religion, age or national origin.
b. Proof of eligibility. Although the Army will make every reasonable effort to verify eligibility from Government records, the burden of proving eligibility lies with the party who requests interment. The Director, Casualty and Memorial Affairs or the Superintendent, Arlington National Cemetery, acting for the Director, will determine whether the submitted proof, documentary or otherwise, is sufficient to support a finding of eligibility.
c. No one will be buried in a memorial section. These sections are designated for the erection of memorial markers in memory of those individuals specified in paragraph 3-4.

2.4 Persons eligible for ground burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
a. Any active duty member of the Armed Forces.
b. Any retired member of the Armed Forces. A retired member of the Armed Forces, in the context of this paragraph, is any retired member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, or any present or former member of a Reserve component, who has been retired for disability or performed at least 20 years of active duty or active reserve service which qualifies him or her for retired pay either upon departure from active service, or at age 60.
c. Any former member of the Armed Forces separated for physical disability before 1 October 1949 who has served on active duty (other than for training) and who would have been eligible for retirement under the provisions of 10 USC 1201 had the statute been in effect on the date of the separation.
d. Any former member of the Armed Forces whose last active duty (other than for training) terminated honorably and who has been awarded one of the following decorations:
(1) Medal of Honor
(2) Distinguished Service Cross (Air Force Cross or Navy Cross)
(3) Distinguished Service Medal
(4) Silver Star
(5) Purple Heart
e. Persons who have held any of the following positions, provided their last period of active duty (other than for training) as a member of the Armed Forces terminated honorably--
(1) An elective office of the United States Government
(2) Office of the Chief Justice of the United States or of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
(3) An office listed, at the time the person held the position, in 5 USC 5312 or 5 USC 5313
(4) The chief of a mission who was at any time during his tenure classified in class I under the provisions of 411 of the Act of 13 August 1946, 60 Stat. 1002 as amended (22 USC 866).
f. The spouse, widow, or widower, minor child, and at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army, unmarried adult dependent child of any of the persons listed in a through e above.
(1) The term "spouse" refers to a widow or widower of an eligible member, including the widow or widower of a member of the Armed Forces who was lost or buried at sea or officially determined to be permanently absent in a status of missing or missing in action. A surviving spouse who has remarried and whose remarriage is void, terminated by death, or dissolved by annulment or divorce by a court with basic authority to render such decrees regains eligibility for burial in Arlington National Cemetery unless it is determined that the decree of annulment or divorce was secured through fraud or collusion.
(2) An unmarried adult dependent child may be interred in the same grave in which the parent has been or will be interred, provided that the child was incapable of self-support up to the time of death because of physical or mental condition. At the time of death of an adult dependent child, a request of interment will be submitted to the Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery. The request must be accompanied by a notarized statement from an individual who has direct knowledge of the marital status and degree of dependency of the deceased child; the name of that child's primarily eligible parent; and the military service upon which the burial is requested. A certificate from a physician who has attended the decedent as to the nature and
duration of the physical and/or mental disability must also be submitted for approval to HQDA (DAAG-PED), WASH, DC 20314, before interment.
g. Widows or widowers of service members who are interred in Arlington National Cemetery as part of a group burial may be interred in the same cemetery but not in the same grave.
h. The surviving spouse, minor child and, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Army, unmarried adult dependent child of any person already buried in Arlington.
i. The parents of a minor child or unmarried adult dependent child whose remains, based on the eligibility of the parent, are already buried in Arlington.
j. An honorably discharged former member of the Armed Forces may be interred in the same grave as a close relative who isthe primary eligible for interment in the gravesite, provided (a) the close relative is already interred; (b) the former member iswithout minor or unmarried adult dependent children; (c) the former member will not occupy space reserved for the spouse orminor or unmarried adult dependent child of the primary eligible; (d) the burial is sanctioned by all close relatives of the primaryeligible; (e) the former member's spouse waives his or her entitlement, on the basis of the former member's service, to interment
in Arlington; and (f) the cost of moving or recasketing/revaulting remains as a result of the burial will be borne by the party requesting the interment.

2.5 Assignment of gravesites.
a. Under present policy of the Department of the Army, only one gravesite is authorized for burial of a service member and eligible family members. This policy applies to Arlington National Cemetery except when the Director, Casualty and Memorial Affairs, specifically determines this is not feasible.
b. Gravesites will not be reserved.
c. Reservations made in writing, before the one-gravesite-per-family policy was established, for gravesites adjoining those of next of kin previously interred, will remain in effect as long as the reservee remains eligible for burial in Arlington.

2.6 Persons eligible for inurnment of cremated remains in the Columbarium in Arlington National
Cemetery.
a. Any member of the Armed Forces who dies on active duty.
b. Any former member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably.
c. Any member of a Reserve Component of the Armed Forces whose death occurs under honorable conditions while he is--
(1) On active duty for training or performing full-time service under Title 32, USC;
(2) Performing authorized travel to or from that duty or service;
(3) On authorized inactive duty training including training performed as a member of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard (Section 502 of Title 32, USC); or
(4) Hospitalized or undergoing treatment at the expense of the United States for injury or disease incurred or contracted under honorable conditions while he is on that duty or service, performing that travel or inactive duty training, or undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.
d. Any member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force whose death occurs under honorable conditions while he is attending an authorized training camp or on an authorized practice cruise, performing authorized travel to or from that camp or cruise, or hospitalized or undergoing treatment at the expense of the United States for injury or disease incurred under honorable conditions while attending that camp or cruise, performing that travel, or undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.
e. Any citizen of the United States who, during any war in which the United States has been or may hereafter be engaged, served in the Armed Forces of any government allied with the United States during that war, whose last service terminated honorably by death or otherwise, and who was a citizen of the United States at the time of entry on such service and at the time of death.
f. Commissioned officers, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (now National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), who die during and subsequent to the service specified in the following categories and whose last service terminated honorably are eligible for inurnment of their cremated remains in the Columbarium regardless of time of death--
(1) Commissioned officers assigned to areas of immediate military hazard described in the Act of 3 December 1942 (56 Stat. 1038; 33 USC 855a) as amended.
(2) Commissioned officers serving in the Philippine Islands on 7 December 1941.
(3) Commissioned officers actually transferred to the Department of the Army or the Department of the Navy under the provisions of the Act of 22 May 1917 (40 Stat. 87; 33 USC 855).
g. Any commissioned officer of the United States Public Health Service who served on full-time duty after 29 July 1945. If the service falls within the meaning of active duty for training as defined in 38 USC 101(22), or inactive duty training as defined in 38 USC 101(23), death must have resulted from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty. Also, any commissioned officer of the Regular or Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service who performed active service prior to 29 July 1945 in time of war; while on detail for duty with the Armed Forces; or while the service was part of the military forces of the United States pursuant to executive order of the President.
h. Spouses, minor children and adult dependent children as described in paragraph 2-3f; and the same categories of spouses and children of the persons listed in a through g above.
 

2.7 Selection of the Columbarium for inurnment.
a. Those persons eligible for ground interment in Arlington National Cemetery under paragraph 2-4 above are also eligible for inurnment in the Columbarium. However, once the initial interment is made in a gravesite, each additional interment in Arlington of eligible members of the family unit must be made in that gravesite.
b. In the event the Columbarium is selected for inurnment of a family member, the cremated remains of all eligible surviving members must be inurned in that facility if disposition of remains is in Arlington.

2.8 Persons eligible for burial in Soldiers' Home National Cemetery.
The Board of Commissioners of the US Soldiers' and Airmen's Home will prescribe rules governing burial in the Soldiers' Home National Cemetery.

2.9 Persons ineligible for interment in an Army national cemetery.
a. Except as indicated in paragraph 2-4j above, a father, mother, brother, sister or in-law is not eligible for interment by reason of relationship to an eligible service person even though he or she is dependent upon the service member for support and/or is a member of the service member's household.
b. A person whose last separation from one of the Armed Forces was under other-than-honorable conditions is not eligible for interment even though he/she may have received veterans benefits, was treated at a Veterans' Administration hospital, or died in such a hospital.
c. A person who has volunteered for service with the Armed Forces but has not actually entered on active duty.
d. A spouse who is divorced from a service-connected person or who, if widowed, is remarried at the time of his or her own death.
e. Dependents are not eligible for interment in Arlington National Cemetery unless the service-connected family member has been or will be interred in that cemetery. This does not apply to widows or widowers or members of the Armed Forces lost or buried at sea or officially determined to be permanently absent in a status of missing or missing in action.

2.10 Disinterments.
a. Interments in Army national cemeteries are considered permanent. Disinterment and removal of remains are permitted only for cogent reasons, and only with the prior approval of the Director, Casualty and Memorial Affairs, TAGCEN, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. 20314. All close relatives of the decedent must consent to the disinterment in writing, or there must be a court order directing the disinterment.
b. Requests for disinterment must be submitted to the Director, Casualty and Memorial Affairs, and must include the following:
(1) A full statement of reasons for the proposed disinterment;
(2) Notarized statements by all close relatives of the decedent stating that they do not object to the proposed disinterment;
(3) A sworn statement by a person who knows that the persons giving statements comprise all of the decedent's close relatives.
c. In lieu of the documents required in b above, an order of a court of competent jurisdiction will be recognized. As this is amatter between family members, the Army or cemetery officials should not be made parties to any court action.
d. Any disinterment authorized under this paragraph must be accomplished without expense to the Government.

Posted: 11 January 2001