If your loved one served in the United States military, your family has earned real benefits — money toward burial costs, a resting place in a national cemetery, a burial flag, military honors at the service. These aren't favors. They were earned through service, and claiming them is not asking for charity.
The problem is that grieving families rarely know what exists or how to file for it. That's the funeral home's job, and this guide explains what the benefits are and how we handle them. The short version: bring us the DD-214, and we take it from there. Questions any hour: (845) 342-0221.
The one document that unlocks everything: the DD-214
The DD-214 is the discharge document issued when a service member leaves the military. It's what the VA, the national cemeteries, and the honors coordinators all ask for. If you know where your loved one kept it, bring it to the arrangement conversation. If you can't find it, tell us — don't let a missing paper delay the first call. We help families locate records all the time, and a lost DD-214 can be requested; it just takes longer, which is one more reason to start early.
(If you're a veteran reading this ahead of need: telling your family where your DD-214 is — or putting it in a pre-planning file with us — is one of the most practical gifts you can leave them.)
VA burial allowances: what the VA pays toward costs
The VA pays burial allowances to help with funeral and burial expenses. For deaths on or after October 1, 2025, the amounts are:
- Non-service-connected death: up to $1,002 toward burial and funeral expenses, plus up to $1,002 toward the plot
- Service-connected death: up to $2,000
These are reimbursement allowances paid to the family, and eligibility rules apply — we walk your family through whether your situation qualifies and prepare the paperwork with you. This is a standard part of how we serve veterans' families, not an extra service.
Separately, Social Security pays a one-time $255 lump-sum death payment to an eligible surviving spouse or child — and it must be applied for within two years. It's small, but it's yours; we make sure families don't miss it.
Burial in a national cemetery
Eligible veterans are entitled to burial in a VA national cemetery, and the core benefits there come at no cost to the family: the gravesite, the government headstone or marker, and the burial flag are provided free.
One piece of honest local guidance: there is no VA national cemetery in the Hudson Valley. For families who want an open-casket national-cemetery burial, the closest option is Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island — a real distance, and worth knowing before you decide.
Closer to home, the Orange County Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Goshen is a county-operated veterans cemetery, about 15 minutes from Middletown. It is not a VA facility, but for many local families it offers what matters most: a veterans' resting place their family can actually visit. We help families weigh both paths without pushing either.
Veterans buried in a private cemetery — a parish cemetery, a family plot — can still receive the government headstone or marker and the burial flag. Choosing a family cemetery does not mean giving up what was earned.
The burial flag and military funeral honors
Every eligible veteran's family receives a United States burial flag, provided at no cost, which drapes the casket or accompanies the urn and is presented to the family.
Military funeral honors — the uniformed presence, the folding and presentation of the flag, Taps — are arranged through the appropriate military service branch. We request and coordinate the honors detail as part of arranging the service; your family does not contact the military yourselves. Families consistently tell us afterward that the folded flag, placed in a spouse's or child's hands, was the moment they will never forget.
How the funeral home files it all
Here is what we handle for a veteran's family, start to finish:
- Verify eligibility using the DD-214 (or help you request records if it's missing)
- File the VA burial allowance claims — burial, plot, or service-connected, as your situation qualifies
- Arrange the national cemetery committal or the government headstone/marker for a private cemetery, whichever the family chooses
- Request the burial flag and coordinate the military honors detail for the service
- Flag the Social Security lump-sum payment and any survivor notifications so nothing is missed
None of this costs extra. It is simply how a veteran should be seen off, and after 40+ years in this profession we consider it part of the work. If you're in the first hours after a loss and not sure what comes first, our guide to what to do when someone dies walks through it — and mention the veteran's service in your very first call to us.
A word about cost worries
Veterans' families sometimes assume "the VA pays for the funeral." The honest answer: the VA helps — the allowances above are real, and the national cemetery benefits are genuinely free — but they don't cover a full funeral. Our cost guide explains what funerals actually cost, and we always put every price in writing before your family commits to anything. Between the VA allowances, the free national-cemetery benefits, and honest itemized pricing, most families find the picture far less frightening than they feared.
Bring us the DD-214. We handle the rest.
Whether your family's veteran passed this morning or you're planning ahead for a veteran still with us, call (845) 342-0221 — a member of the Meléndez family answers, day or night, in English or Spanish. Or reach us here. Your loved one stood up for this country. Making sure your family receives everything that service earned is our privilege.