OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MELVIN PRICE, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 1, OR H.R. 5621 AND S.1038

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75B00380R000800020021-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2001
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: February 5, 1973
• Content Type: REGULATION

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OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MELVIN PRICE, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 1,
ON
H.R. 5621 AND S.1038
Wednesday, December 5, 1973
Y
We meet this morning to consider two bills. The first is N.R. 5621, a bill
to provide for the presentation of a flag of the United States for deceased members
of the National Guard and Selected Reserve.
The purpose of the bill is to authorize the appropriate Service Secretaries to
pay the necessary expenses incident to the presentation of a flag to the person
designated to direct the disposition of the remains of a member of the National
Guard or a Reserve of an armed force under his jurisdiction who is in the Selected
Reserve and who is not covered by Section 1481 of Title 10, United States Code, and
who dies under honorable circumstances as determined by the Secretary.
Under present law (Section 1482 of Title 10, United States Code), the Secretary
concerned may pay the necessary expenses of furnishing and presentation of a flag
incident to the recovery, care, and disposition of the remains of decedents covered
by Section 1481 of Title 10, United States Code.
Flags may not be furnished where the deceased person was a military prisoner
who died while in custody of the Secretary under a court-martial sentence which
included a discharge.
In addition, those members not included in Section 1481 of Title 10, United
States Code, and who, therefore, would not be entitled to the benefits of Section
1482 of Title 10, United States Code, may be veterans within the meaning of
Section 901, Title 38, United States Code. In the case of such veterans, a flag
may be presented by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs.
To understand what this means, I think it is essential that we look at those
people covered under Section 1481 of Title 10, and Section 901 of Title 38,
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United States Code. Flags now may be presented to the person designated to direct
the disposition of remains to (1) any Regular of an armed force or member of an
armed force without component who dies while on active duty; (2) any Reserve of an
armed force who dies while (a) on active duty, (b) while performing authorized
travel to or from that duty, (c) on authorized inactive duty, or (d) hospitalized
or undergoing treatment at the expense of the United States for injuries incurred,
or disease contracted while on that duty or training or while performing that
travel; (3) any member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard who dies
while entitled to pay from the United States while meeting the conditions listed
above for Reservists; (4) any member of, or applicant for membership, in a Reserve
Officers` Training .?Corps-who dies while (A) attending a training camp, (B) on-an
authorized practice cruise, (C) performing authorized travel to or from such a
camp or cruise, or (D) hospitalized or undergoing treatment at the expense of the
United States for injury incurred, or disease contracted, while attending such a
camp, while on such a cruise, or while performing that travel; (5) any accepted
applicant for enlistment in an armed force; (6) any person who has been discharged
from an enlistment in an armed force under his jurisdiction while a patient in a
United States hospital and who continues to be such a patient until the date of his
death; (7) any retired member of an armed force under his jurisdiction who becomes
a patient in a United States hospital while he is on active duty for a period of
more than 30 days and who continues to be such a patient until the date of his
death; and (8) any military prisoner who dies while in the custody of the Secretary
concerned.
In addition, the Administrator of the Veterans Administration can furnish a
flag to any deceased veteran who (1) is a veteran of any war, or of service after
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January 31, 1955; (2) had served at least one enlistment; or (3) had been discharged
or released from the active military, naval, or air service for a disability
incurred or aggravated in line of duty.
The Department of Defense considers it desirable and appropriate to furnish a
flag in every case in which a member of the National Guard or a member of the Ready
Reserve dies under honorable conditions and on which the next of kin or other
appropriate person requests one. The fraternity of the military does not draw the
line depending on the cause or time of death where the circumstances are honorable.
They believe that such displays of reverence and affection increase the morale of
the military, and remind the public of the service performed by the citizen soldier
in their midst.
However, the Department of the Army in behalf of the Department of Defense has
submitted a substitute bill, including a change of title. The Selected Reserve is
only a part of the Ready Reserve. As the Ready Reserve includes many dedicated
members who contribute considerably to the national security but are not within the
Selected Reserve, they have recommended that this recognition of service performed
not be limited to the National Guard and Selected Reserve. In this connection, since
the Air National Guard of the United States and the Army National Guard of the United
States (which includes all Federally recognized National Guard units) are components
of the Ready Reserve of the Army and Air Force, respectively, they believe it is
unnecessary to specify "National Guard" membership in addition to Ready Reserve
membership as the basis for entitlement to a flag. Thus, they have in their revised
draft of the bill, incorporated changes which reflect these views. A copy of both
the original bill and the revised bill are before you.
While the cost of this bill is difficult to predict with certainty, based on the
value of an interment flag at $11.20, the maximum cost is expected to be no more than
$16,000 annually. This would cause no apparent increase in the budgetary requirements
of the Department of Defense.
Our first Xitnes , b olQ A l 0c ? ~~ l2?12 1d
Policy Division, ~I o$ a"~i General, epar menj-f a Xtrmy.
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The second bill we shall consider this morning is S. 1038, providing for
travel and transportation allowances to certain members of the uniformed services
in connection with leave, specifically such leave as is taken between two conse-
cutive overseas assignments when at least one of those assignments is without de-
pendents.
As the Members will recall, this Committee and the House passed similar legis-
lation in the last Congress (H. R. 3542) but the Senate failed to act on that
measure. The author of that legislation, our colleague The Honorable William S.
Broomfield, has introduced similar legislation in this Congress (H.R. 3598) and,
without objection, his statement on this legislation will be inserted at the appro-
priate point in the transcript of these hearings.
S. 1038 is, in essence, the same bill. Its purpose is to permit service
members to assist their dependents in the packing, relocation, and establishment
of a new residence coincident with the member's consecutive overseas assignment.
If the member is without dependents, the bill would authorize similar benefits for
the purpose of returning to visit his family between overseas assignments. In
these cases, the benefits may not exceed the amount to which the bachelor would have
been eligible had he, or she, returned to the home of record. The reason for this
clause is that, while the home of record for the service member might be at one
place, his family, in the interim between enlistment and this assignment, may have
moved to another location.
The Senate included language in its Report (93-523) which limits the option
of the service member as to the choice of location at which to spend well-earned
leave to the residence of family members. It also limits the Governmental liability
for costs associated with such travel.
The bill also provides that such travel as may be utilized under the provisions
of the legislation be made in a duty status. Thus, the member is not required to
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waste his annual leave time awaiting transportation either from his overseas station
to home or from his home to his next designated post of duty.
The witness for the Department of Defense on this bill is Lieutenant Colonel
John M. Gasper from the Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.
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A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for the presentation of
a flag of the United States for deceased members of the Ready Reserve.
Be it enacted by the Se:-.ate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section
1482 of title 10, United States Cof?.e, is amended by adding the
following new subsection at the end thereof:
"(f) The Secretary concerned may pay the necessary expenses for the
presentation of a flag to the person designated to direct the
disposition of the remains of a member of the Ready Reserve of an
armed force under his jurisdiction who is not covered by section 1481
of this title and who dies under honorable circumstances as determined
by the Secretary."
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