The manner in which the life and service of George Taylor, a Vietnam veteran who passed away on May 8 at his home in north Georgia, was honored has caused a mighty stir online.

That’s because a photograph of him taken by a Facebook user resting at a funeral home depicts his body on a stretcher, rather than inside a coffin — with the American flag is draped over.

This from 8KPAX out of Montana:

Several media outlets are reporting that the facility placed him on the stretcher because the family was unable to come up with the money for a casket before the showing. But the funeral home has disputed those claims, saying it was the family’s wishes to have him displayed in that way and money was not at issue.

WRCB in Chattanooga reports the funeral home made arrangements to properly display Taylor before his internment on Friday.

“In 50 years of serving this community, money has never once been the reason that our family has been unable to serve another family in their time of need,” said Ben Friberg, manager of the funeral home in Fort Oglethorpe told Task & Purpose. “In this particular case we presented many different options to the Taylor family, but in this case, we did exactly what were instructed to do by the immediate family members.”

Beverly Roe, sister-in-law of Taylor, corroborated Friberg’s account, saying the parties “shook on it.”

Taylor was buried on May 12, in a proper coffin, at Chattanooga National Cemetery.

To view the controversial image, click here.