Since 1963, for Northwest Europe, and 1967 for the rest of the world, the Ministry of Defence has offered to repatriate the bodies of all those who die in military service, for burial in the United Kingdom. However, if the family elect to have a funeral overseas, the Ministry of Defence will pay for the next of kin and a companion to attend at public expense and, should local conditions prevent their attendance, then a visit to the grave may be arranged up to two years after the death. While this policy of repatriation was not made retrospective, in the event of the discovery of identifiable human remains on a historic battlefield, or crash site, the Department will, assuming we can trace their relatives, provide the opportunity for two people to attend the service funeral at public expense.
In addition, since 1985, widows and widowers whose husband or wife died overseas as a result of service in HM armed forces between 1914 and 1967 have been entitled to visit their spouse's grave/memorial through the Government funded war widow/ers pilgrimage scheme, provided they have not done so before at public expense. The scheme also funds a carer to accompany the widow/er on the UK section of the pilgrimage, from which point appropriate care is provided. We review periodically the administration of the scheme, which is administered for the Department by the Royal British Legion, but we have no plans to change our policy for eligible war widow/ers to visit their spouse's grave/memorial.