As a Veterans Funeral Care provider, Northern Indiana Funeral Care advance planning specialists pride themselves on knowing everything there is to know about veterans death benefits and how to get them. Visit us at Northern Indiana Funeral Care for more information.
Truly an awe inspiring sight – the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Northern Indiana Funeral Care will arrange for and facilitate military honors for any U.S. military veteran. Call us today at 877-382-2756 or visit our website for more information about veterans funeral services.
This brief video demonstrates the three-volley salute at the Indiana Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Madison, Indiana. This type of honor can be arranged at any cemetery.
Northern Indiana Funeral Care is proud to arrange special honors for our Veteran heroes. Visit our website at www.NorthernIndianaFuneralCare.com or call us at 877-382-2756 for more information.
Northern Indiana Funeral Care of Fort Wayne began operations in 2010 and is quickly becoming the leader of providing low cost funeral and cremation services with an emphasis on the veteran population. Bryan Jenisch is the Veterans Funeral Care representative for Northern Indiana Funeral Care and spends long hours ensuring veterans and their families receive all VA benefits related to cemetery, funeral, and cremation needs. The story he relates below is just one reason why Veterans Funeral Care has enjoyed the exclusive endorsement of The American Legion, Department of Indiana, since 2006.
He says “I had an elderly lady call me two weeks after her husband had died. Her kids were over at her house trying to help keep the utilities from being shut off.” This veteran’s widow had seen an ad by Veterans Funeral Care that had been placed in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette some time ago and filed it away for future reference. However, on the day her husband died she couldn’t find the ad so she called another local Fort Wayne funeral home. As she explained it “I had to end up borrowing money from several family members to lay my husband (a WW II vet) to rest because it was so expensive. They didn’t even ask about military honors. There was no rifle salute, taps, or even folding the flag and giving it to me.”
Now she is being told by a representative of a local cemetery in Fort Wayne that she has to buy a $2000 head stone and that her husband is not entitled to one from the VA. Two weeks after her husband died she found the newspaper ad and contacted Mr. Jenisch. He explained to her that she is entitled to receive a memorial through the Veterans Administration as long as his discharge was anything other than dishonorable. She said she was sure her husband had served with distinction so they are currently in the process of filing the necessary paperwork to secure a copy of her husband’s discharge papers (form DD 214). This document will allow her to file a claim with the VA for the marker and also the Presidential Memorial Certificate. She expressed to Mr. Jenisch “I’m relieved but still upset that my husband did not receive military honors. Unfortunately it can’t be done over.” Mr. Jenisch, having served 21 years in the United States Military, stated simply “without question, the way this lady was treated is a disgrace and totally unacceptable.”
Through much experience Veterans Funeral Care finds that only a small number of veterans are fully aware of VA benefits while spouses and other family members are usually in the dark, too. They don’t know what options are available and when the veteran dies they have no idea what to do.
Mr. Jenisch says he continues to hear a lot of myths. “It concerns me that these benefits have never been claimed by a family who’s entitled to them for the simple reason of not knowing they existed. In many cases these benefits total into the thousands of dollars.”
The people who work for Veterans Funeral Care are passionate about making sure veterans AND THEIR FAMILIES are aware of all the benefits available through the VA related to cemetery, funeral, or cremation needs. They focus on not only educating veterans, but more importantly how they can apply or help to apply for these benefits so families don’t fall victim to erroneous or fraudulent information.
It makes you wonder what would motivate those in the funeral and cemetery business to sink to such depths. Greed? Laziness? Ignorance? Most likely it’s a combination of desiring greater profits combined with a lack of commitment to their chosen work. Whatever the reason it’s important when planning for these needs that you know who you’re dealing with. You should ask to meet the owner and spend time figuring out who they are and the standards they uphold. Ask questions like “How long have you been a funeral director in this area?” and “What’s the most important thing you can tell me about how you conduct business?” and “What’s your commitment to veterans?” Make sure the pricing is easy to understand and fully explained because you should never feel confused or unsure when making funeral or cremation arrangements.
Northern Indiana Funeral Care of Fort Wayne is committed to providing inexpensive, not cheap, funeral and cremation services to families in all Northern Indiana. They love serving veterans and consider it an honor when given this sacred trust. The savings are usually 40% or more on the prices of funerals (including caskets) and cremations (including urns) compared to other Fort Wayne funeral homes. As the exclusive provider of Veterans Funeral Care in Northeast Indiana we also actively encourage and promote the use of National and State Veterans Cemeteries. If you would like to learn more about this program please visit their website at www.northernindianafuneralcare.com or email vfccounselor@yahoo.com. If you would like to speak to Bryan Jenisch he can be reached toll-free at 877-382-2756. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Veterans Funeral Care through Northern Indiana Funeral Care serves the following Indiana counties: Adams, Allen, Dekalb, Huntington, Lagrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells, and Whitley.
Background: The traditional seal used since the Revolution was redesignated as the Seal of the Department of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947. The Department of the Army seal is authorized by Section 3011, Title 10, United States Code. The date “MDCCLXXVIII” and the designation “War Office” are indicative of the origin of the seal. The date (1778) refers to the year of its adoption. The term “War Office” used during the Revolution, and for many years afterward, was associated with the Headquarters of the Army.
Description: In the center is a Roman cuirass below a vertical unsheathed sword, point up, the pommel resting on the neck opening of the cuirass and a Phrygian cap supported on the sword point, all between, on the right an esponton and, on the left a musket with fixed bayonet crossed in saltire behind the cuirass and passing under the sword guard. To the right of the cuirass and esponton is a flag of unidentified designs with cords and tassels, on a flagstaff with spearhead, above a cannon barrel, the muzzle end slanting upward behind the cuirass, in front of the drum, with two drumsticks and the fly end of the flag draped over the drumhead; below, but partly in front of the cannon barrel, is a pile of three cannon balls. To the left of the cuirass and musket is a national color of the Revolutionary War period, with cords and tassels, on a flagstaff with spearhead, similarly arranged above a mortar on a carriage, the mortar facing inward and in front of the lower portion of the color and obscuring the lower part of it; below the mortar are two bomb shells placed side by side. Centered above the Phrygian cap is a rattlesnake holding in its mouth a scroll inscribed “This We’ll Defend.” Centered below the cuirass are the Roman numerals “MDCCLXXVIII.”
Symbolism: The central element, the Roman cuirass, is a symbol of strength and defense. The sword, esponton (a type of half-pike formerly used by subordinate officers), musket, bayonet, cannon, cannon balls, mortar, and mortar bombs are representative of Army implements. The drum and drumsticks are symbols of public notification of the Army’s purpose and intent to serve the nation and its people. The Phrygian cap (often called the Cap of Liberty) supported on the point of an unsheathed sword and the motto, “This We’ll Defend,” on a scroll held by the rattlesnake is a symbol depicted on some American colonial flags and signifies the Army’s constant readiness to defend and preserve the United States.
Northern Indiana Funeral Care offers military-themed caskets available in all branches of service. Request a brochure here, call us at 877-382-2756 or email vfccounselor@yahoo.com for more information.
Reference:
http://www.history.army.mil/reference/Heritage/Emblem.htm
Veterans Funeral Care is a program offered by a network of funeral homes committed to serving veterans and the military community. We currently provide services in most states. Northern Indiana Funeral Care is a branch location of Hite Funeral Home which has been in business since 1948. We are the provider of this program for Fort Wayne and all of Northern Indiana including the following counties: Adams, Allen, Dekalb, Huntington, Lagrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells, and Whitley. Veterans Funeral Care is honored to have the exclusive endorsement of the American Legion, Departments of Indiana, Illinois and South Carolina.I would characterize our program in 4 ways:
The purpose of planning ahead for funeral or cremation needs is to make the time of your death, as much as possible, easier on the people you love. This involves three basic issues:
Your vital statistics will be needed in order to get the Death Certificate.
Everyone is faced with making 8 major decisions.
In addition to those choices–There are many more.
When your family is trying to make all these decisions on the worst day of their life it can be completely overwhelming. After a death, when emotions are at a peak, families commonly disagree with what should take place, all the while having no idea what you would have wanted. What we refer to as emotional overspending is a tendency to make decisions with emotion instead of logic.
If you take the average inflation rate over the last few decades, prices more than double every 12 to 15 years. None of us can predict the future, but we know at some point in time this bill will come due. The problem is you have no idea how much it’s going to be, or who will be there to pay it. So the question becomes, “who’s responsible for this?”
It’s a fact of life that at every person’s death, the proper disposition of their mortal remains becomes someone’s responsibility. You’ve either accepted that responsibility yourself, or someone in your family will have to accept it for you.
If you set aside the financial implications, which are important, the only cost to plan in advance is your time and the willingness to do it. If you think about it, there’s no reason not to. Simply put, I’ve never worked with a family who regretted that things were preplanned and prefunded. It just makes sense, regardless of what happens in your life, to make sure this issue won’t become a burden to the people you love.
But the financial burden can be considerable. Veterans commonly spend in excess of $10,000 for funeral and cremation expenses.
Our members pay an average of just $4200.
Most people are familiar with the term “funeral parlor”? Seventy to eighty years ago, visitations took place in the home and if people had a church affiliation, services were held in the church. The funeral home was where the funeral director lived and worked.
Although many people are looking for modest prices for funerals, costs over the last several decades have skyrocketed due to the consolidation of family owned funeral homes by large public companies. These companies are expected by Wall Street to produce big profits and the families that use them are the ones that generate those profits. We also believe many independent owners have overbuilt so they have to charge what they do in order to continue operating multi-million dollar facilities.
There are a lot of fine funeral homes in Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana. We don’t claim to be better but simply offer an alternative by bringing funeral service full circle, renewing old and sensible traditions. By just paying for the services of the funeral director and staff along with inexpensive merchandise including caskets, vaults, and urns, funerals and cremations shouldn’t cost what we see people spending today.
We are committed to keeping our overhead low and providing a simple approach to funerals…an approach that provides a personal service in one of our facilities, your church, home, cemetery chapel, American Legion, VFW, or Am Vets post or some other community-centered location.
Because of the uncertain financial situation at the time of death, many people decide to pre-pay funeral expenses. If you choose to do this, in essence what you purchase is a guarantee. Regardless of what happens, you and your family will never pay more than today’s cost. In other words, by paying now, you are insuring that the cost of your funeral will stay the same—it’s not going to increase or cost more in future years.
If you would like to know more about Veterans Funeral Care and how to keep funeral and cremation services inexpensive, please contact us at 1-877-382-2756 or visit our website at northernindianafuneralcare.com.
Military Funeral Honors include flag folding, flag presentation and taps. The funeral directors at Northern Indiana Funeral Care will arrange a meaningful service for those who have honorably and faithfully served our country. One of the highlights of military funeral honors is the flag folding ceremony, a must for honoring a service veteran, conducted by local active duty troops.
We would be honored to answer any questions you may have. Please call us at 877-382-2756 or visit our website at www.northernindianafuneralcare.com. You may also contact the Department of Veteran’s Affairs at (800) 827-1000 or visit their website at www.cem.va.gov.
