The 71st Congress amended the World War Veterans Act of 1924 on July 3, 1930, to direct: “Where a veteran of any war, including those women who serve as Army nurses under contracts between April 21, 1898 and February 2, 1901, who was not dishonorably discharged, dies after discharge or resignation from the service, the director shall furnish a flag to drape the casket of such veteran and afterwards to be given to his next of kin regardless of the cause of death of such veteran.” Thus, the tradition of presenting a United State burial flag honoring a veteran was born.
About year later, on May 27, 1931, the United States postmaster general, to assist to the fullest extent the execution of that amendment, first directed that all county seat post offices would cooperate with the Veterans Administration to store and issue flags provide by the Veterans Bureau for that purpose. As a result, the USPS and the Department of Veterans Affairs established a supportive relationship that has remained solid and unchanged for 89 years.
That relationship changed on May 5, 2020, as a new process of distributing flags to more than 17,000 post offices nationwide was implemented The new process, will provide for faster and more reliable order fulfillment and reduce the shipping cost and man-hour burden at both regional offices and medical centers, allowing VA employees to concentrate on their core veteran support missions.
Concurrent with the new replenishment system, the Department of Veterans Affairs released an updated VA Form 27-2008, “Request for Issue of a United States Burial Flag,” dated August 2020 and are asking funeral directors to dispose of any older forms and utilize the 2020 version when requesting a flag from a post office. Electronic copies of the form can be downloaded at Request for Burial Flag VA Form 27-2008.
Funeral homes that are experiencing problems with local post offices should report issues to USPS Material Distribution Center customer service at 800-332-0317.
This article originally appeared in the January 28, 2021 issue of the Memorial Business Journal.