History
The first national cemeteries were set up after the United States Civil War by Edmund Burke Whitman. Congress passed a law to establish and protect national cemeteries in 1867.
Final military honors are provided for qualified veterans by several volunteer details known as a Memorial Honor Detail or MHDs upon request of family members through their choice of mortuaries handling the deceased's remains.
Read more about this topic: United States National Cemetery
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimized—the question involuntarily arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)