Editing Arlington National Cemetery (section)

==Burial procedures==
[[File:Arlington House Half-mast 28 May 2011.jpg|thumb|right|The flag at Arlington House is lowered to [[half-staff]] during interments.]]
[[File:Columbarium at ArlingtonNationalCemetery.JPG|thumb|The [[columbarium]] is for individuals whose remains were [[cremated]].]]
The flags in the cemetery are flown at [[half-staff]] from a half-hour before the first [[funeral]] until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.<ref>Location of Arlington House flagpole: {{Coord|38.881187|-77.072128|region:US_type:landmark_scale:2000_source:wikimapia|display=inline|name=Arlington House flagpole}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://wikimapia.org/#y=38881187&x=-77072128&z=17&l=0&m=h&v=2|title=Wikimapia – Let's describe the whole world!|website=wikimapia.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927185841/http://wikimapia.org/#y=38881187&x=-77072128&z=17&l=0&m=h&v=2|archive-date=September 27, 2009}}</ref>

Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average between 27 and 30 per day. The cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each year.<ref name="facts">{{cite web|title=Arlington National Cemetery Facts |url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/visitor_information/anc_facts.html |publisher=Arlington National Cemetery |access-date=July 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819092926/http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/visitor_information/anc_facts.html |archive-date=August 19, 2010 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

With more than 400,000 interments,<ref name="Explore">{{Cite web |title=History of Arlington National Cemetery |url=https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/History-of-Arlington-National-Cemetery |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224221423/https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/History-of-Arlington-National-Cemetery |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |access-date=December 20, 2020 |publisher=www.arlingtoncemetery.mil}}</ref> the cemetery has the second-largest number of burials of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is [[Calverton National Cemetery]], on [[Long Island]], near [[Riverhead, New York]], which conducts more than 7,000 burials annually.

In addition to in-ground burial, the cemetery also has one of the larger [[columbarium|columbaria]] for cremated remains in the country. Four courts are currently in use, each with 5,000 niches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 niches; capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium, if they served on active duty at some point in their career (other than for training).<ref name="CFR">{{cite web| title=32 CFR 553.15a{{snd}}Persons eligible for inurnment of cremated remains in Columbarium in Arlington National Cemetery| url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;rgn=div8;view=text;node=32%3A3.1.1.4.18.0.11.16;idno=32;cc=ecfr;sid=1b5d76eb98eb266e4144e384e69e930a| date=July 27, 2011| access-date=July 29, 2011| publisher=National Archives and Records Administration| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119075120/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;rgn=div8;view=text;node=32%3A3.1.1.4.18.0.11.16;idno=32;cc=ecfr;sid=1b5d76eb98eb266e4144e384e69e930a| archive-date=January 19, 2012| url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Burial criteria===
[[File:6707-MilitaryFuneralProcession-ArlingtonlCemetery.jpg|thumb|[[Military funeral#United States|Military funeral]] procession in Arlington National Cemetery, July 1967]]

Part 553 (Army National Military Cemeteries) of [[Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations]] (CFR) establishes regulations for the cemetery, including eligibility for interment (ground burial) and inurnment.<ref>{{CodeFedReg|32|553}}</ref> Due to limited space, the criteria for ground burial eligibility are more restrictive than at other national cemeteries, as well as more restrictive than for inurnment in the columbarium.

The persons specified below are eligible for ground burial in the cemetery, unless otherwise prohibited.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/funeral_information/guide.interment.html| title=Establishing Eligibility{{snd}}Eligibility for Interment (Ground Burial)| publisher=Arlington National Cemetery| access-date=July 29, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100901031624/http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/funeral_information/guide.interment.html| archive-date=September 1, 2010| url-status= usurped}}</ref> The last period of active duty of former members of the armed forces must have ended honorably. Interment may be of casketed or cremated remains.
* Any active-duty member of the [[Military of the United States|armed forces]] (except those members serving on active duty for training only)
* Any veteran who is retired and eligible for retirement pay from service in the armed forces, including service members retired from a reserve component who served a period of active duty (other than for training)
* Any former member of the armed forces separated honorably prior to 1 October 1949, for medical reasons and who was rated at 30% or greater disabled effective on the day of discharge
* Any former member of the armed forces who has been awarded one of the following decorations:
** [[Medal of Honor]]
** [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]], [[Navy Cross]], or [[Air Force Cross (United States)|Air Force Cross]]
** [[Silver Star]]
** [[Purple Heart]]
* Any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and who held any of the following positions:
** An elective office of the U.S. Government (such as a term in Congress)
** Office of the [[Chief Justice of the United States]] or of an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
** An office listed, at the time the person held the position, in 5 USC 5312 or 5313 (Levels I and II of the Executive Schedule)
** The chief of a mission who was at any time during his/her tenure classified in Class I under the provisions of Section 411, Act of 13 August 1946, 60 Stat. 1002, as amended (22 USC 866) or as listed in State Department memorandum dated 21 March 1988
* Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last period of military, naval or air service terminated honorably and who died on or after 30 November 1993
* The spouse, widow or widower, minor child, or permanently dependent child, and certain unmarried adult children of any of the above eligible veterans
[[File:Silence and Respect.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Respectful silence is requested at Arlington National Cemetery.]]
* The widow or widower of:
** a member of the armed forces who was lost or buried at sea or fell out of a plane or officially determined to be permanently absent with a status of either missing or missing in action
** a member of the armed forces who is interred in a US military cemetery overseas that is maintained by the [[American Battle Monuments Commission]]
* The spouse, minor child, or permanently dependent child of any person already buried in Arlington National Cemetery
* The parents of a minor child, or permanently dependent child whose remains, based on the eligibility of a parent, are already buried at Arlington. A spouse divorced from the primary eligible, or widowed and remarried, is not eligible for interment
* Provided certain conditions are met, a former member of the armed forces may be buried in the same grave with a close relative who is already buried and is the primary eligible

===Inurnment criteria for columbarium===
Due at least partly to the lack of space at the cemetery for ground burial, standards for inurnment (burial of cremated remains) in the columbarium are currently much less restrictive than for ground burial at the cemetery. In general, any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably is eligible for inurnment. Eligibility for inurnment is described fully in [https://web.archive.org/web/20110612211846/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;sid=ebe6204b5183f9156bf1036a1135dc30;rgn=div5;view=text;node=32:3.1.1.4.18;idno=32;cc=ecfr#32:3.1.1.4.18.0.11.16 32 C.F.R. § 553.15a].

===Prohibitions against interment or memorialization===
Congress has from time to time created prohibited categories of persons who, even if otherwise eligible for burial, lose that eligibility. One such prohibition is against certain persons who are convicted of committing certain state or federal capital crimes, as defined in [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/2411- 38 U.S. Code § 2411]. Capital crime is a specifically defined term in the statute, and for state offenses can include offenses that are eligible for a life sentence (with or without parole). The reasoning for this provision originally was to prevent [[Timothy McVeigh]] from being eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, but it has since been amended to bar others.<ref name="fox">{{cite news| title=Arlington National Cemetery Burial Law Eyed| url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/arlington-national-cemetery-burial-law-eyed| agency=Associated Press| publisher=Fox News| date=August 10, 2005| access-date=July 29, 2011| archive-date=February 1, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201182749/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165335,00.html| url-status=live}}</ref>