RENEWING HONOR AT OLD GRAVES
Effort would secure federal oversight to repair military resting places
MARE ISLAND >> The oldest military cemetery on the West Coast is falling into a bleak state of disrepair.
It was designed as a place of honor, but neglect has turned it into a blight on the memories of those who fought in The War of 1812 and many other bloody battles. The Mare Island Naval Cemetery’s headstones are broken or toppled due to poor drainage, sinking soils and the ravages of time. Its quaint white picket fence is crumbling.
Now there’s hope for the sacred site, maintained for decades by volunteers and the cash-strapped city of Vallejo. Newly proposed legislation would transfer control to the Veterans Administration National Cemetery Administration — elevating the spot to a national shrine.
But the effort needs broader support to succeed.
“If we love our veterans, we need to take care of them,” said Nestor Aliga, 63, a volunteer and retired Army colonel who is leading the campaign for federal adoption of the cemetery. “This is a disgrace.”
A 9 a.m. Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery aims to bolster support. The featured speaker is Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa,
“If we love our veterans, we need to take care of them. This is a disgrace.”
— Nestor Aliga, 63, a retired Army colonel leading the campaign for federal adoption of the cemetery.
who has introduced legislation (H.R. 5588) that directs the VA secretary to reach an agreement with Vallejo for the transfer and maintenance of the cemetery. On May 17 Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a companion bill (S. 2881) that Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is co-sponsoring.
The trajectory of the 160-year-old cemetery mirrors the history of Mare Island itself, the first naval base on the West Coast and a once-bustling place that built destroyers, submarines and landing craft.
In the mid-1800s, many sailors arrived at Mare Island ill or injured. Those who died at the nearby hospital needed a place to be buried.
Significant burials
The cemetery holds 996 graves, including three Medal of Honor recipients. Anna Arnold Key, daughter of national anthem lyricist Francis Scott Key, is buried there, as is her husband, who fought in the War of 1812.
The first recorded burial was George Dowd, who died aboard the USS Massachusetts in 1856. Also buried are 15 USS Boston crew members killed in an 1892 explosion at the Mare Island Ammunition Depot and six Russian sailors who died while fighting a fire in San Francisco’s Financial District.
Burials ceased in the 1980s. The shipyard closed and — for reasons lost to history — the cemetery was not transferred from the Navy to Veterans Affairs. By law, the VA pays to maintain military cemeteries, but it can give money only to federal or state entities, not city governments.
Vallejo inherited the unfunded site in 2002, and when the city declared bankruptcy in 2008, support for the cemetery began to fray.
Once a week, volunteers gather to tend the
graves, pick up branches and sometimes patch up a failing brick wall. The city mows the lawn, rakes leaves and trims trees.
There have been many calls to revive the cemetery, but they all have sputtered.
Now there’s a looming problem, one that volunteers and the city can’t afford to tackle.
The hillside is developing sinkholes due to drainage problems. One estimate placed the price tag of repairs — excavation, new drainage and reburial of graves — at $15 million.
“Volunteers can do the minor stuff,” said Aliga, whose grandfather worked at the shipyard as a welder during the Depression. “The sinkholes and drainage, that’s a much bigger issue.”
Vallejo doesn’t want it anymore. So it’s taking the unusual step of asking the federal government to take back its land. Last month, Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan submitted a letter saying the city will relinquish control of the cemetery — a critical first step to any transfer.
Another milestone has been recently reached with the introduction of legislation in both the House and Senate.
“By transferring control of the cemetery from the city of Vallejo to the VA, this bill will help ensure the cemetery can be maintained without being a financial burden to the city,” said Thompson,
in his April announcement.
“The cemetery’s current state is not a fitting tribute to the service and sacrifices of the men and women buried there,” said Feinstein in a prepared statement.
In the state Capitol, Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat, has introduced a resolution of support.
Meanwhile, a petition — signed by nearly 55,000 people — is requesting the Trump administration assume ownership of the site by 2020. A simple executive order, if issued by July 4, could allocate unused federal funds for the cemetery.
Next steps
Meanwhile, the Senate bill will move next to the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where supporters hope it will catch the interest of the chairman, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
On foreign soil, American soldiers lie buried under the elegant green lawns of Belgium, France, Philippines and other nations, said Aliga.
“Then you come to your own homeland and, oh my goodness,” Aliga added.
“We Americans are certainly capable of flexing our muscle to ‘’make right’ a historic wrong,” he said. “This cemetery is shameful.”