Title 32

SECTION 553.46

553.46 Ineligibility for interment, inurnment or memorialization in an Army Post Cemetery.

§ 553.46 Ineligibility for interment, inurnment or memorialization in an Army Post Cemetery.

The following persons are not eligible for interment, inurnment, or memorialization in an Army Post Cemetery:

(a) A father, mother, brother, sister, or in-law solely on the basis of his or her relationship to a primarily eligible person, even though the individual is:

(1) Dependent on the primarily eligible person for support; or

(2) A member of the primarily eligible person's household.

(b) Except for the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks Cemetery in § 553.45, a person whose last period of service was not characterized as an honorable discharge (e.g., a separation or discharge under general but honorable conditions, other than honorable conditions, a bad conduct discharge, a dishonorable discharge, or a dismissal), regardless of whether the person:

(1) Received any other veterans' benefits; or

(2) Was treated at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital or died in such a hospital.

(c) A person who has volunteered for service with the U.S. Armed Forces, but has not yet entered on active duty.

(d) A former spouse whose marriage to the primarily eligible person ended in divorce.

(e) A spouse who predeceases the primarily eligible person and is interred or inurned in a location other than an Army Cemetery, and the primarily eligible person remarries.

(f) A divorced spouse of a primarily eligible person or the service-connected parent when the divorced spouse has a child interred or inurned in an Army Cemetery under the child's derivative eligibility.

(g) Otherwise derivatively eligible persons, such as a spouse or minor child, if the primarily eligible person was not or will not be interred or inurned at an Army Cemetery.

(h) A person convicted in a Federal court or by a court-martial of any offense involving subversive activity or an offense described in 18 U.S.C. 1751 (except for military prisoners at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks Cemetery).

(i) A service member who dies while on active duty, if the first General Courts Martial Convening Authority in the service member's chain of command determines that there is clear and convincing evidence that the service member engaged in conduct that would have resulted in a separation or discharge not characterized as an honorable discharge (e.g., a separation or discharge under general but honorable conditions, other than honorable conditions, a bad conduct discharge, a dishonorable discharge, or a dismissal) being imposed, but for the death of the service member.

(j) If animal remains are unintentionally commingled with human remains due to a natural disaster, unforeseen accident, act of war or terrorism, violent explosion, or similar incident, and such remains cannot be separated from the remains of an eligible person, then the remains may be interred or inurned with the eligible person, but the identity of the animal remains shall not be inscribed or identified on a niche, marker, headstone, or otherwise.