Important Information About Military Burials At Sea
All honorably discharged US veterans are eligible for a naval burial at sea. However the services are performed during deployment so civilian family and friends may not attend. There is a lot of paperwork to fill out and the wait time can be very long.
NEBAS offers Discounted Military Burials At Sea (full body & ash scattering) with an official US Military Honor Guard.
The Honor Guard Dockside Ceremony includes an American Flag folded and presented to your designated next of kin on behalf of the President of the United States with an electronic bugler to sound Taps.
Veterans of all military branches are eligible. The DD-214 discharge paperwork is required for Honor Guard and NEBAS military discount.
Contact For Scheduling Information
Dockside Flag Presentation
Military Ash Scattering Information
For ash scatterings, NEBAS voyages out with family and friends three nautical miles and the family scatters their loved ones cremated remains along with selected clergy if desired to respectfully attend to a loved one’s final wishes with a customized sea tribute service and then returns to port all within about three hours. Traditional Ash Scattering rates include at the close of the service an official parchment sea burial certificate marking the latitude and longitude of a loved ones’ final resting place and prices start at $495.00 for an unattended services. Attended services are available for up to 400 passengers or more. Typical group size is 15-20 people).
Military Full Body Burials At Sea
NEBAS burials at sea are legal, meet and exceed regulations, are approved per USCG and EPA requirements and the events are easy to plan. NEBAS handles all licensing, required permits and filings with the EPA.
The company also voyages off shore to 600+ feet of water for full body burials with their exclusive ocean friendly Atlantic and or Pacific Sea Burial Shroud® for eco-friendly full body committals.
Military Burial At Sea Options
For all events, the trained crew helps the family conduct a dignified and well-thought out memorial service that can be customized to specific needs, wishes, religion or taste. If preferred, a family member or other designated person may conduct all or part of the ceremony.
Ocean friendly wreaths, flora, music, poems, readings, prayers, bag pipers, Taps, military cadre’ and other no cost or low cost options are also available. Requests can be accommodated within 24-48 hours, depending upon the weather and season.
The service may be attended or unattended and some can be viewed from the shore.
Photography of the service is also available and in some cases a live video feed can be simulcast worldwide to family members that may not be able to attend but who can easily log on line to watch the event.
U.S. Government Military Burial at Sea Consultation Services
If your family wishes to have the traditional United States government free military burial at sea aboard a U.S Military vessel, New England Burials at Sea can consult and assist families with a government military burial at sea.
Traditional military burials at see are offered to active duty, retired, and honorable veterans of all branches of the U.S. military and are performed while the U.S. military vessel is on official deployment maneuvers. Therefore, it is not possible for the family or civilians to be present.
The family will be notified by the commanding officer of that vessel of the date time, longitude, and latitude of the committal service. You can contact U.S. Government Military Affairs for details.
You can read more information about Traditional Military Burials At Sea Here: What is Military Free Burial at Sea?
Honor Guard FAQ
Paperwork Filing:
You can ask your funeral director to file necessary paperwork for the Veteran Burial Benefits on behalf of the family.
What is required:
Your loved one’s DD-214 discharge paperwork. If you can’t locate it, ask for our record locater service a low cost way to pull from Govt archives availabkle to you.
Please note: if you do not have the required documents, you can search though the branch of service that you participated in. We can also do this for a nominal fee as it can take up to two weeks to secure.
Honor Guard Firing Party Salute:
A firing party may have 3, 5, or 7 firers. A firing party IS NOT a 21 gun salute. The significance of the firing party is the three volleys it fires, not how many rounds are fired.
Honor Guard Firing Party Availability:
We make every attempt to ensure proper honors are rendered. However, if no documentation is submitted to the funeral director or the Casualty Office showing retirement, the deceased may be listed as regular veteran. If that paperwork was submitted, there is a chance that we did not have team members available to perform a firing party. Unfortunately, most funerals take place at the same time during the day, and our priority is performing basic military honors.
Electronic vs. Traditional Bugle:
A live, PROFICIENT bugler is always preferred, however, there are very few. Most funeral honors are performed with a ceremonial bugle, which is a real bugle with an electronic insert. The ceremonial bugle is much more dignified than a portable speaker. Taps is a very difficult bugle call to play correctly. The recording used is the Army Band’s (Persian’s Own) premier bugler, and is the same Taps heard at Arlington National Cemetery.
We offer a live, civilian bugler (or bagpiper) if desired that can play a variety of tunes (Military and other) for an additional fee.
The military does not always perform Military Funeral Honors for veterans.
There are occasions when veterans do not receive military honors. There are a several factors that may cause this, but it’s usually because paperwork showing honorable service cannot be located. Other factors include funeral directors not following up with the Casualty Office. On occasion, team members are involved in auto accidents or get stuck in traffic. On those rare instances, teams will render honors later than day, or at a date and location convenient to the family.
More Information About NEBAS
We offer a military special discount program on attended and unattended memorial ash scattering services and/or full body ocean burials from Maine to Florida and on the West Coast.
NEBAS is the best known company in the U.S. for sea burials and it uses only properly insured and current U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) licensed captains and vessels that have been Sea Burial Certified™ by NEBAS. Active duty, retired and honorable veterans of all branches of the U.S. military are eligible for the NEBAS discount.
Should you have any questions, please contact us on our direct: 781-834-0112 or toll free (877) 897-7700.
-CaptBradWhite
