It shall be the duty of the county commissioners in each of the counties of this state to cause to be decently interred the body of any honorably discharged person who served in the armed forces of the United States during the Spanish-American war, the Philippine insurrection, the expedition to China, world war I or world war II, or who served with the armed forces of the United States during the military, naval and air operations in Korea or other places under the flags of the United States and the United Nations or under the flag of the United States alone, or the body of the spouse or parent of any such honorably discharged person, who may hereafter die without leaving sufficient means to defray funeral expenses; or to cause the removal of the body of any member of the armed forces as above defined buried in grounds reserved exclusively for pauper dead to other portions of cemeteries or burial grounds. Such burial shall not be made in any cemetery or burial ground or that portion of the burial ground used exclusively for the burial of pauper dead: Provided, That in case surviving relatives of the deceased shall desire to conduct the funeral, and are unable or unwilling to pay the charges therefor, they shall be permitted to do so, and the expense shall be paid in the amount and manner provided by Kan. Stat. Ann. § 39-713(l) of the General Statutes Supplement of 1955 or amendments thereto [*].