View all text of Chapter 24 [§ 2400 - § 2414]
§ 2402. Persons eligible for interment in national cemeteries
(a) Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe and subject to the provisions of section 6105 of this title, the remains of the following persons may be buried in any open national cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration:
(1) Any veteran (which for the purposes of this chapter includes a person who died in the active military, naval, air, or space service).
(2) Any member of a Reserve component of the Armed Forces, any member of the Space Force, and any member of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, whose death occurs under honorable conditions while such member is hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while such member is performing active duty for training, inactive duty training, or undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.
(3) Any member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force whose death occurs under honorable conditions while such member is—
(A) attending an authorized training camp or on an authorized practice cruise;
(B) performing authorized travel to or from that camp or cruise; or
(C) hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while such member is—
(i) attending that camp or on that cruise;
(ii) performing that travel; or
(iii) undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.
(4) Any citizen of the United States who, during any war in which the United States is or has been engaged, served in the armed forces of any government allied with the United States during that war, and whose last such service terminated honorably.
(5) The spouse, surviving spouse (which for purposes of this chapter includes a surviving spouse who had a subsequent remarriage), minor child (which for purposes of this chapter includes a child under 21 years of age, or under 23 years of age if pursuing a course of instruction at an approved educational institution), and, in the discretion of the Secretary, unmarried adult child of any of the persons listed in paragraphs (1) through (4) and paragraph (7), and the spouse, minor child, and, in the discretion of the Secretary, unmarried adult child of a member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty under conditions other than dishonorable, as shown by a statement from a general court-martial convening authority, at the time of the spouse’s or child’s death if such death occurs before September 30, 2025.
(6) Such other persons or classes of persons as may be designated by the Secretary.
(7) Any person who at the time of death was entitled to retired pay under chapter 1223 of title 10 or would have been entitled to retired pay under that chapter but for the fact that the person was under 60 years of age.
(8) Any individual whose service is described in subsection (a) or (b) of section 107 of this title if such individual at the time of death—
(A) was a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States; and
(B) resided in the United States.
(9)
(A) The parent of a person described in subparagraph (B), if the Secretary determines that there is available space at the gravesite where the person described in subparagraph (B) is interred.
(B) A person described in this subparagraph is a person described in paragraph (1) who—
(i) is a hostile casualty or died from a training-related injury;
(ii) is interred in a national cemetery; and
(iii) at the time of the person’s parent’s death, did not have a spouse, surviving spouse, or child who is buried or who, upon death, may be eligible for burial in a national cemetery pursuant to paragraph (5).
(10) Any individual—
(A) who—
(i) was naturalized pursuant to section 2(1) of the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–207; 8 U.S.C. 1423 note); and
(ii) at the time of the individual’s death resided in the United States; or
(B) who—
(i) the Secretary determines served honorably with a special guerrilla unit or irregular forces operating from a base in Laos in support of the Armed Forces at any time during the period beginning on February 28, 1961, and ending on May 7, 1975; and
(ii) at the time of the individual’s death—(I) was a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States; and(II) resided in the United States.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a)(9) of this section:
(1) The term “parent” means a biological father or a biological mother or, in the case of adoption, a father through adoption or a mother through adoption.
(2) The term “hostile casualty” means a person who, as a member of the Armed Forces, dies as the direct result of hostile action with the enemy, while in combat, while going to or returning from a combat mission if the cause of death was directly related to hostile action, or while hospitalized or undergoing treatment at the expense of the United States for injury incurred during combat, and includes a person killed mistakenly or accidentally by friendly fire directed at a hostile force or what is thought to be a hostile force, but does not include a person who dies due to the elements, a self-inflicted wound, combat fatigue, or a friendly force while the person was in an absent-without-leave, deserter, or dropped-from-rolls status or was voluntarily absent from a place of duty.
(3) The term “training-related injury” means an injury incurred by a member of the Armed Forces while performing authorized training activities in preparation for a combat mission.
(Added Pub. L. 93–43, § 2(a), June 18, 1973, 87 Stat. 75, § 1002; amended Pub. L. 99–576, title VII, § 701(54), Oct. 28, 1986, 100 Stat. 3295; Pub. L. 101–237, title III, § 313(b)(1), Dec. 18, 1989, 103 Stat. 2077; Pub. L. 102–40, title IV, § 402(d)(1), May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 239; renumbered § 2402, Pub. L. 102–83, § 5(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 406; Pub. L. 103–240, § 1, May 4, 1994, 108 Stat. 609; Pub. L. 103–446, title VIII, §§ 801, 802, Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4675; Pub. L. 104–275, title II, § 211, Oct. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 3330; Pub. L. 105–368, title IV, § 403(c)(5), Nov. 11, 1998, 112 Stat. 3338; Pub. L. 106–419, title III, § 331(a), title IV, § 404(a)(5), Nov. 1, 2000, 114 Stat. 1856, 1865; Pub. L. 108–183, title II, § 212(b), title V, § 502(a), Dec. 16, 2003, 117 Stat. 2658, 2667; Pub. L. 111–275, title V, § 502(b), Oct. 13, 2010, 124 Stat. 2882; Pub. L. 115–141, div. J, title II, § 251(a), Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 824; Pub. L. 115–407, title II, § 202(b), Dec. 31, 2018, 132 Stat. 5373; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, § 926(a)(39), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3830; Pub. L. 117–81, div. F, title LXVI, § 6601(a), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 2437; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVII, § 1723(b), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 674; Pub. L. 118–83, div. B, title III, § 312, Sept. 26, 2024, 138 Stat. 1540.)