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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A new South Carolina law aims to make sure that every veteran in the state gets a proper military funeral.

The law passed this year allows coroners or funeral directors with unclaimed remains to release information to veteran and military groups to see if the deceased is a veteran who has earned a burial will full military honors.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Rieser became the first veteran afforded a funeral under the new law. He died in Conway in 2009, and his remains went unclaimed because his parents were dead and he was an only child.

Two American Legion members who pushed for the law contacted Horry County Coroner Robert Edge, and Rieser was laid to rest earlier this month at the Florence National Cemetery.