LATHAM, N.Y. – New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen provided military funeral honors at 6,166 graveside services in 2025.
The 69 Soldiers who serve in the New York Army National Guard Honor Guard conducted 5,051 military funerals during the year.
Meanwhile, the 61 Airmen who serve on six base honor guards conducted services 1,565 times in 2025.
Since 2000, federal law has mandated that the military provide funeral honors for any former military member who was not dishonorably discharged. The New York Army and Air National Guard, as community-based military forces, conduct many of these funerals.
Federal Public Law 106-65 requires that at least two service members attend a funeral, ensures that taps is played – usually with an "electronic bugle" – and that a flag is provided to the family of the former service member.
Retired military members and those who die on active duty are eligible for more elaborate services, which can include up to nine honor guard members and a rifle salute.
In 2024, the New York Army and Air Guard conducted 8,783 military funeral services, while in 2023, military funeral honors were conducted 9,083 times.
In 2022, the New York National Guard provided 9,824 funeral honors services.
New York Army National Guard Sgt. Justin Kehati, a member of the Honor Guard since 2022 based at the Harlem Armory office, said he's noticed the decline in the number of funerals over time.
His team used to do as many as four funerals a day. Now, they average around two, Kehati said.
"It's sad to say, but almost all of our World War II vets have already passed on, and the Korean War vets too," Kehati said. "Overall, it seems the trend for military funerals is that they are slowing."
In 2000, when the military funeral law went into effect, there were 1.3 million veterans in New York, and 349,819 of them were World War II veterans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2023, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there were 662,404 veterans in New York. At that time, there were just over 5,000 World War II veterans still alive.
In 2010, the New York Army National Guard alone conducted 10,300 military funerals, and 90% were of World War II veterans.
The New York Army National Guard runs a centralized program with 24 full-time Honor Guard members and 44 part-time members based out of six locations across the state, according to 2nd Lt. Jillian Jindrick, the honor guard officer-in-charge. The program's budget in fiscal year 2025 was $2.5 million.
Of the 68 Soldiers serving on the honor guard, 24 work on the mission full-time while 44 volunteer part-time.
Each Soldier goes through 40 hours in the precise movements of folding and presenting the flag, "playing" the bugle and receiving the casket involved in a military funeral. The Soldiers also go through regular refresher training, Jindrick said.
He got involved in the funeral honors program because he was nervous around death and funerals and thought the job would help him overcome that anxiety, Kehati explained.
It worked, and now he finds the job very rewarding because “being there for the families and letting them know that their loved one is really cherished by the country, and if that helps ease their grief, that is worth it and then some," Kehati said.
Families request Army military funeral honors through their funeral home director, who contacts the New York team to schedule the services.
The New York Air National Guard operates honor guard programs at three of its four airbases in Syracuse, Scotia and Westhampton Beach.
The 107th Attack Wing teams up with the U.S. Air Force Reserve's 914th Airlift Wing at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. New York Air Guard and Air Reserve members serve together on a team that covers western New York and part of Pennsylvania.
The Air Guard programs work with the Air Force casualty assistance centers at Hanscomb Air Force Base and at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to coordinate events.
Air National Guard honor guard members go through the same type of training that the Army provides for its honor guard teams, according to Master Sgt. Terra Martin, the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the 109th Airlift Wing honor guard.
The Air Force also offers mobile training teams to teach Airmen the skills needed.
The Air Guard reduced funding for base honor guards in 2025, resulting in cutbacks in the number of full-time honor guard members.
The 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh lost funding for full-time honor guard members in March and ended their programs.
The 109th Airlift Wing at Stratton Air National Guard base outside Schenectady, and the 106th Rescue Wing at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, had to reduce full-time guard members.
Of the 61 Airmen who provide military funeral honors, 50 participate as part-time honor guard members.
The Army Guard Long Island detachment and the 106th Rescue Wings do more funerals than others because of the population in the region and the existence of the Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island, according to Jindrick and Capt. Cheran Campbell, the public affairs officer for the 106th Rescue Wing.