[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S11989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SMITH of Oregon:
  S. 1406. A bill to amend section 2301 of title 38, United States 
Code, to provide for the furnishing of burial flags on behalf of 
certain deceased members and former members of the Selected Reserve; to 
the Committee on Veterans Affairs.


     burial flags for members of the guard and reserves legislation

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, several months ago, one of my 
constituents, Gilbert Miller, a retired Air Force senior master 
sergeant, walked into my Medford, OR office to share an idea with me. 
After doing some research, he discovered that some military reserve 
component members who had honorably served their country as Selected 
Reservists were not eligible for funeral burial flags. In response to 
this inequity, and in recognition of Veterans' Day, I rise to introduce 
a bill authorizing the Department of Veterans' Affairs to issue burial 
flags to deceased members of the reserve component.
  Mr. President, National Guard and Reserve units and individual 
members increasingly share the day-to-day burden of our national 
defense. Their service is routinely performed in a drill or short 
active duty tour status alongside an active component service member. 
Their status, however, does not make their contribution to our national 
defense any less important or less critical. Simply put, many 
requirements could not be met without the direct involvement of Reserve 
forces, either in a drill status or on short active duty tours.
  In view of this reality, I believe it is time to expand the current 
law regarding burial flags to include these members of the total force. 
Therefore, my bill permits the issuance of a burial flag to those 
National Guard and Reserve members who honorably served in the reserve 
component.
  Mr. President, I would like to thank the Non Commissioned Officers 
Association and all the veterans' groups for their support of this 
bill.
  Finally, Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute to our veterans 
as we prepare to celebrate Veterans' Day. Each day as I drive to work 
at the U.S. Senate, I cannot help but notice the beautiful monuments of 
our Nation's capital. These monuments were built to honor great people 
and great events, and each has its own inspirational story to tell. 
What you will find in the stories is that the greatness of our country 
and of its leaders was founded in the willingness of common men and 
women, our veterans, to risk their lives defending the principle of 
right. Serving both at home and on foreign soil, their service must 
always be remembered.
  Working in Washington in this great institution and among these 
beautiful monuments, I frequently am reminded of the sacrifices of our 
veterans. Even outside of Washington, in almost every town across 
America, there are monuments dedicated to our veterans. I urge each 
American to discover their story, not only from a historical 
perspective, but also through the eyes of the veterans living in their 
communities, where you will find common men and women who simply did 
the right thing when called upon. And because of them, we live in a 
world where there is more peace than ever before. They deserve our 
thanks.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1406

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ISSUANCE OF BURIAL FLAGS FOR DECEASED MEMBERS AND 
                   FORMER MEMBERS OF THE SELECTED RESERVE.

       Section 2301(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(2) deceased individual who--
       ``(A) was serving as a member of the Selected Reserve (as 
     described in section 10143 of title 10) at the time of death;
       ``(B) had served at least one enlistment, or the period of 
     initial obligated service, as a member of the Selected 
     Reserve and was discharged from service in the Armed Forces 
     under conditions not less favorable than honorable; or
       ``(C) was discharged from service in the Armed Forces under 
     conditions not less favorable than honorable by reason of a 
     disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty during the 
     individual's initial enlistment, or period of initial 
     obligated service, as a member of the Selected Reserve.''.
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