Army relents on vets’ funerals

MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. Army will allow the children of veterans to use military rifles at veterans’ funerals, abandoning a federal statute that some groups said was making it difficult to perform ceremonial honors.

Honor guards made up of members of the American Legion and other veterans groups have been frustrated that they cannot fill out their ranks with members of the Sons of the American Legion, a separate group made up of children of veterans.

Army officials had said they were worried about the liability of letting nonveterans handle ceremonial rifles.

American Legion leaders have said the law was making it difficult to meet the demand for the guard’s services at funerals, because they often don’t have enough veterans. An estimated 1,800 military veterans die every day across the country, and honor guards struggle to keep up with serving two or three funerals a day.

The rifles are loaned out by the Army Donations Program, out of the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command in Warren, Mich. Ed Woolverton, chief of the program, told the American Legion in a letter that the Army would change course.

“After much discussion with our legal department it is hereby determined that ceremonial rifles may be used by the entire American Legion family of organizations,” Woolverton wrote.

Under the new interpretation of the statute, only American Legion posts can maintain, store and secure the weapons. But Sons of American Legion members and other auxiliary groups can use them.

“We are talking about a fairly large-scale use of the Sons of the American Legion,” said Mike Duggan, the deputy director of foreign affairs for the American Legion.

Duggan said the concerns about liability were unwarranted.

“We’re not sending young, inexperienced people out there to handle these rifles,” Duggan said. “We made that abundantly clear.”

Associated Press

Honor guard members fire a salute during services in December for Marine Corps veteran Howard Johnson of Superior, Wis.