Military Funerals
The Minnesota men and women who serve our country deserve our fullest gratitude both in life and in death. Last year the family of Minnesota Cpl. Ben Kopp, who died in July from wounds he suffered in Afghanistan while serving in a platoon, contacted Senator Franken to ask for his help. His family had requested a horse-drawn caisson—part of the full-honors military funeral—but was informed that they would have to wait several months because Arlington had only two caissons to service all military funerals. Senator Franken was deeply unsettled by this and wrote to the Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery to complain that this was unacceptable. A month later, he received a reply from the Secretary of the Army informing him that the cemetery would add a third caisson and alter scheduling so units would be available, ensuring that other families would not have go through the experience that Cpl. Kopp’s did.
