Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§1484 Pensioners, indigent patients, and persons who die on military reservations

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 75— - DECEASED PERSONNEL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - DEATH BENEFITS › § 1484

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

If no other proper arrangements can be made, the department Secretary may take care of the bodies of pensioners and poor (indigent) patients who die in the department’s hospitals and of people who die on the department’s military reservations. The Secretary can pay the necessary costs for notifying next of kin, preparing the body (including cremation), providing clothing, supplying a casket or urn with an outer box, transporting the remains to a cemetery the Secretary selects, and burying the remains.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §1484

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

If proper disposition of the remains cannot otherwise be made, the Secretary concerned may provide for the care and disposition of the remains of pensioners and indigent patients who die in hospitals operated by his department and of persons who die on the military reservations of that department and, incident thereto, pay the necessary expenses of— (1)

(2)preparation of the remains for burial, including cremation;

(3)furnishing of clothing;

(4)furnishing of a casket or urn, or both, with outside box;

(5)transportation of the remains to a cemetery selected by the Secretary; and

(6)interment of the remains.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 14845:2156 (as applicable to armed forces).July 15, 1954, ch. 507, § 6 (as applicable to armed forces), 68 Stat. 479. The words “If proper disposition of the remains cannot otherwise be made” are substituted for 5:2156 (last sentence). The words “maintained and” and “incurred for”, and the words “articles of” in clause (3), are omitted as surplusage. The words “of that department” are inserted for clarity.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 1484

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73