10 U.S.C. § 1521 — Posthumous commissions

(a) The President may issue, or have issued, an appropriate commission in the name of a service member who, after September 8, 1939: (1) was appointed to a commissioned grade^* but died before accepting it; (2) completed an officers’ training-school course and was recommended for a commissioned grade by the school’s commanding or responsible officer^* but died before accepting it; or (3) was officially recommended for appointment or promotion to a commissioned grade but died before accepting the appointment or promotion. (b) The commission is effective on the date of the appointment or recommendation. The member’s records must show the member as having served, from that date until death, in the commissioned grade and any branch in which the member was commissioned. (c) For a promotion to a higher commissioned grade, the responsible Secretary must certify that the member qualified for appointment to that grade when the member died.