Pentagon wants volunteers to attend funerals
Military chiefs in the US are appealing for forces veterans to attend funerals.
As the Second World War generation dies the defence department has around 1,200 military funerals to arrange each day.
Each must have two uniformed members of the armed forces present, and manpower is becoming stretched.
There were 16 million military personnel during the Second World War compared with 1.3 million military personnel currently.
"What we are asking is for veterans' service organisations and other similar organisations to ask for volunteers if they would like to be participants and help in the funeral ceremonies for some of these deceased veterans," says Rear Admiral Craig Quigley.
The number of military funerals is expected to grow for the next couple of years before stabilising and starting to decline.
