---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1484"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1484"
heading: "Pensioners, indigent patients, and persons who die on military reservations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1484"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 75 — Deceased Personnel"
  - "Subchapter II — Death Benefits"
---

# §1484. Pensioners, indigent patients, and persons who die on military reservations


If proper disposition of the remains cannot otherwise be made, the [Secretary concerned](/usc/10/2801.md?p=c-5) may provide for the care and disposition of the remains of pensioners and indigent patients who die in hospitals operated by his [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) and of [persons](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) who die on the [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) reservations of that [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) and, incident thereto, [pay](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-15) the necessary expenses of—

- (1) notification to the next of kin or other appropriate [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2);
- (2) preparation of the remains for burial, including cremation;
- (3) furnishing of clothing;
- (4) furnishing of a casket or urn, or both, with outside box;
- (5) transportation of the remains to a cemetery selected by the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3); and
- (6) interment of the remains.

## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 114.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 1484 | 5:2156 (as applicable to armed forces). | July 15, 1954, ch. 507, § 6 (as applicable to armed forces), 68 Stat. 479. |

The words “If proper disposition of the remains cannot otherwise be made” are substituted for 5:2156 (last sentence). The words “maintained and” and “incurred for”, and the words “articles of” in clause (3), are omitted as surplusage. The words “of that department” are inserted for clarity.