Smith Calls on VA to Allow Flag-Folding Recitation at Vets' Funerals

Press Release

Smith Calls on VA to Allow Flag-Folding Recitation at Vets' Funerals

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today added his name to a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon Mansfield to reverse the ban by the National Cemetery Administration on the recitation of a common flag-folding ceremony during funerals. The reading details the significance of every fold of the American flag as it is being prepared for survivors.

The policy prohibits national cemetery employees and volunteers from reciting the description of the 13 folds, and the ban extends to Veterans Service Organizations like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which often provide volunteers to assume flag-folding duties and the playing of Taps at veterans' funerals.

The change in policy was prompted by a single complaint at Riverside National Cemetery in California, yet bans the ceremony at veterans' cemeteries nationwide. Nebraska's Ft. McPherson near North Platte is a national cemetery and falls under the ban.

"The folding of the American flag is a powerful moment for many families of veterans who have lost a loved one. Families who choose to have the ceremony include the recitation of the 13-folds should have that right to make such a request. It is upsetting to me to find out even that option has been taken away."

"We owe the men and women who have served our country - and their families - every respect and a degree of service fitting their sacrifices. Families, not bureaucrats, should be making these sensitive decisions. To have such a solemn moment banned outright flies in the face of the beliefs which make our country great," Smith said.

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