[Title 32 CFR 553.15]
[Code of Federal Regulations (annual edition) - July 1, 2002 Edition]
[Title 32 - NATIONAL DEFENSE]
[Chapter V - DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY]
[Subchapter D - MILITARY RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIES]
[Part 553 - ARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES]
[Sec. 553.15 - Persons eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


32NATIONAL DEFENSE32002-07-012002-07-01false553.15Sec. 553.15NATIONAL DEFENSEDEPARTMENT OF THE ARMYMILITARY RESERVATIONS AND NATIONAL CEMETERIESARMY NATIONAL CEMETERIES
Sec. 553.15  Persons eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

    (a) Any active duty member of the Armed Forces (except those members 
serving on active duty for training only).
    (b) Any retired member of the Armed Forces. A retired member of the 
Armed Forces, in the context of this paragraph, is a retired member of 
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or a Reserve 
component who has served on active duty (other than for training), is 
carried on an official retired list, and is entitled to receive retired 
pay stemming from service in the Armed Forces. If, at the time of death, 
a retired member of the Armed Forces is not entitled to receive retired 
pay stemming from his service in the Armed Forces until some future 
date, the retired member will not be eligible for burial.
    (c) Any former member of the Armed Forces separated for physical 
disability prior to 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

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U.S.C. 1201 had that statute been in effect on the date of his 
separation.
    (d) Any former member of the Armed Forces whose last active duty 
(other than for training) military service 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 in 5 U.S.C. 5312 or 5 U.S.C. 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 U.S.C. 866, 1964 ed.).
    (f) Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served 
honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last 
period of active military, naval, or air service terminated honorably 
and who died on or after November 30, 1993.
    (1) The term ``former prisoner of war'' means a person who, while 
serving in the active military, naval, or air service, was forcibly 
detained or interned in line of duty--
    (i) By an enemy government or its agents, or a hostile force, during 
a period of war; or
    (ii) By a foreign government or its agents, or a hostile force, 
under circumstances which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs finds to 
have been comparable to the circumstances under which persons have 
generally been forcibly detained or interned by enemy governments during 
periods of war.
    (2) The term ``active military, naval, or air service'' includes 
active duty, any period of active duty for training during which the 
individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or injury 
incurred or aggravated in line of duty, and any period of inactive duty 
training during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from 
an injury incurred or aggravated in line of duty.
    (g) The spouse, widow or widower, minor child and, at the discretion 
of the Secretary of the Army, unmarried adult child of any of the 
persons listed 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 child may be interred in the same grave in 
which the parent has been or will be interred, provided that 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 child, a request for 
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 as to the marital status, degree 
of dependency of the deceased child, the name of that child's parent, 
and the military service upon which the burial is being requested. A 
certificate of a physician who has attended the decedent as to the 
nature and duration of the physical and/or mental disability must also 
accompany the request for interment.
    (h) 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.
    (i) The surviving spouse, minor child, and, at the discretion of the 
Secretary

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of the Army, unmarried adult child of any person already buried in 
Arlington.
    (j) The parents of a minor child or unmarried adult child whose 
remains, based on the eligibility of a parent, are already buried in 
Arlington National Cemetery.

[42 FR 25725, May 19, 1977, as amended at 59 FR 60559, Nov. 25, 1994]