Detective completes mission for vets
Back in October, Novato private investigator Steve Nash, president of the Vallejo Council of the Navy League, started a campaign to make sure every tombstone in the Mare Island Naval Cemetery had a wreath on it before Christmas. However, he was concerned he might not be able to raise enough money to finish the job.
He shouldn’t have worried so much.
Not only did Nash raise enough for a wreath at each grave, he ended up having extra wreaths for people to take to loved ones at other cemeteries. A total of
$17,000 was raised to put roughly 1,000 wreaths in the cemetery on Saturday morning as part of a Wreaths Across America ceremony.
“Luckily no decision had to be made and we had extra wreaths,” Nash said on Saturday. “Everyone made a huge commitment both as a team and as individuals to make this happen.”
Nash, a former Marin County sheriff’s detective, is a veteran himself, having served for six years in the Navy. Nash has been a longtime member of the Navy League and was a board member for the Sonoma County Council for two decades. He became president of the Vallejo Council of the Navy League in February
of this year.
On Saturday morning he was consumed with putting wreaths on the tombstones and thinking about fallen heroes.
“When I’m doing that I’m thinking of what the soldier or sailor was doing and their thoughts when they passed away,” Nash said. “I was stationed in Alameda and went to many Asian countries and spent a lot of time serving in the United States, but today my mind is focused on the deceased.”
During the ceremony, Nash read the keynote address, which included remarks from the office of state Sen. Bill Dodd as well as Assemblyman Tim Grayson.