DEATH BENEFITS
Some of the compensation and benefits available to dependents of U.S. military personnel who die in the line of duty. The list is not all-inclusive:
DEATH GRATUITY: $3,000 payment immediately upon death of a member on active duty.
HOUSING: 90 days of cash for quarters allowance, if eligible, or rent-free occupancy of military housing, if occupying such housing.
INSURANCE: Payment of $50,000 from servicemen’s group life insurance, if member opted for maximum coverage.
SURVIVORS: Department of Veterans Affairs compensation payments to a surviving spouse and/or child. Varies according to service member’s basic pay. In the Persian Gulf, for example, about $597 per month for the spouse of a member in pay grade E3 (Army private or Navy seaman.)
BURIAL: Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense may offer some cash allowances for funeral expenses, American flags for presentation to next of kin, burial in a veterans’ national cemetery, a headstone or grave marker, cremation or interment.
Source: Congressional Research Service
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