The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921-1969 Bibliographical Note These studies were written primarily from official records kept by the
agencies of the Department of Defense involved in conducting funeral ceremonies.
Documents providing background information included appropriate sections
of United States Code, Title 24: Hospitals, Asylums, and Cemeteries; Army
Regulations 600-25, Salutes, Honors, and Visits of Courtesy; and Army
Regulations 600-30, Personnel: Honors to Persons. Further information
of a general nature was obtained from War Department Pamphlet 21-39, Conduct
of a Military Funeral, published in September 1947 and rescinded in 1960.
Copies of these publications are in General Reference Branch, Office of
the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army. [384] or support the ceremony. Typical of basic individual plans were those developed by Headquarters, Military District of Washington; Headquarters, Potomac River Naval Command; and Headquarters Command, U.S. Air Force. Typical of component plans were those prepared by the 3d Infantry. Copies of the individual plans consulted were obtained from various agencies, including the National Archives in Washington; National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri; Office of the Chief of Support Services, Department of the Army; Bureau of Naval Personnel, Department of the Navy; Headquarters, Military District of Washington; Headquarters Command, US Air Force; and Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 3d Infantry. After action reports prepared by the commands and staff agencies responsible for arranging and conducting the funeral ceremonies were basic sources for many of the studies. These reports varied in quality and content. The best of them included a narrative, supporting documents, and statements of problems encountered. As a rule, copies of after action reports are retained by the agencies that hold copies of the individual funeral plans. The National Archives provided other pertinent information. Most useful were the file, Honors in Funeral Ceremonies, 1929-1931, which included material on the State Funeral for William Howard Taft, and the Mail and Records Branch File, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Volume I, March 1948 through June 1949, which contained information on the ceremony for former Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal. Considerable use was made of newspaper reports of the various funeral ceremonies. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Evening Star were most frequently consulted. Some clippings from local newspapers were available. Notable were accounts of the ceremony for Senator Styles Bridges printed in New Hampshire papers, which were provided by the Office of the Sergeant at Arms, US Senate. Other newspaper accounts used came from the Biography and Miscellaneous files in the General Reference Branch, Office of the Chief of Military History. Periodicals and published works provided little information. Useful for background material was John Vincent Hinkel, Arlington: Monument to Heroes (New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, 1965). The November 1968 issue of Esquire contained an article that was helpful on the ceremony for Senator Robert F. Kennedy. William Manchester, Death of a President (New York: Harper, 1967), included a detailed account of the funeral of John F. Kennedy. [385] |