SECTION 46A. Veterans; burial; affidavit; veteran graves officer

No permit for the burial or other disposition of the body of a deceased veteran, known to be such, as the term veteran is defined in section twenty-one of chapter thirty-one, shall be issued unless and until an affidavit, as hereinafter set forth, shall have been filed with the board of health, or body or person having similar powers and duties, issuing such permit, by the undertaker or other person authorized to make such burial or disposition. Such affidavit shall set forth, as far as is known to the person executing it, the name and last known address of the deceased, the date and place of his or her birth, the date, place and cause of his or her death, a summary of his or her service record, and a detailed statement of the location of the burial or other disposition of his or her body.

A certified copy of the affidavit shall be transmitted by the undertaker or other person authorized to make the burial or disposition, within 30 days of the burial or disposition, to the veterans' agent or part-time veterans' agent of the city or town of burial or other disposition of the body. Upon receipt of the certified copy, the veterans' agent or part-time veterans' agent shall transmit the certified copy to the veterans' graves officer, appointed under section 9 of chapter 115, of the city or town of burial or other disposition of the body. Upon receipt of such certified copy, said veteran graves officer shall, if said deceased veteran did not have his settlement in such city or town, thereupon transmit a copy of such affidavit to the veteran graves officer of the city or town in which said deceased veteran had his settlement, and in the event that said deceased veteran had no settlement in the commonwealth and was not a resident of the city or town of burial or other disposition, a copy of such affidavit shall be transmitted to the veteran graves officer of the city or town where said deceased veteran last resided.