DD Form 214

What it means

DD Form 214 is the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. It records the dates and character of service, which is what eligibility for veterans' benefits turns on.

It is needed for a burial allowance, a headstone or marker, interment in a national cemetery, and for survivor benefits.

A copy can be requested from the national personnel records if the family cannot find one, and requests from next of kin are handled differently from requests by others.

Why it matters

It is the single document that unlocks the veterans' benefits after a death, and it is the one most often lost decades before it is needed.

Funeral arrangements involving a national cemetery or military honors move quickly, and the document is usually wanted at the start rather than later.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a parent or spouse who served has died.
• When arranging a burial with military honors.
• When applying for a burial allowance or a marker.

Related terms

• Certified copyA copy issued by the office that holds the original, carrying a seal or stamp that says so. A photocopy is not one.
• Death certificateThe official record of a death, issued by a state or local vital records office, and the document nearly every organization will ask to see.
• Federal retirement benefitsThe pension and insurance system for federal civilian employees — FERS or the older CSRS, plus group life cover, each with its own beneficiary record.
• Survivor benefitA continuing payment to a spouse, child or other dependant after somebody dies — from Social Security, a pension, or an annuity.
• Veterans' burial benefitsWhat a veteran's family may claim after a death: interment in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, a burial flag, and in some cases an allowance toward costs.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Veterans' benefits