Each county board shall designate some suitable person or persons to serve without compensation, who shall cause to be properly interred the body of any honorably discharged veteran who served in the army or navy of the United States during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Uprising in China, or with the armed forces of the United States in World War I, World War II, during the national emergency between June 25, 1950 and January 31, 1955, during the Viet Nam Conflict between January 1, 1961 and May 7, 1975, or with the armed forces of the United States in any congressionally sanctioned war or conflict after the Viet Nam Conflict, or their mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, widows, widowers or minor children, who may hereafter die in such county, without having sufficient means to defray the funeral expenses. This Division shall not apply to such mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, widows or widowers, if they were recipients of public assistance at the time of death.