Frustration grows in Vallejo’s Mare Island Cemetery fix

Frustration is growing among proponents of a yearplus-long effort to get the U.S. Veterans Administration to take over the repair and upkeep of the west’s oldest military cemetery — Vallejo’s Mare Island Naval Cemetery.

Saying this fight has become personal, was retired U.S. Navy Capt. Ralph Parrott, whose random day trip to Mare Island sparked the effort to rescue the deteriorating graveyard. Parrott said despite buy-in from many local and state legislators who agree the V.A. is the appropriate agency to oversee it, the V.A. itself is pushing back. Its officials are reportedly saying that an IRT program for which the site may qualify, will solve the problem; a conclusion with which Parrott and others strongly disagree.

The Defense Department’s Innovative Readiness Training program is designed to provide training for reserve forces while also bettering local communities through medical or engineering support, the government says.

“The V.A. has consistently lied about this project being a solution to the problem,” Parrott said in an email distributed to those interested in and/or helping with the effort to rescue the cemetery, which is the final resting place of more than 800 souls, including three Medal of Honor recipients. “We are probably not going to get the legislation passed because of their lies. I want to be able to expose their lies when we take up the fight in the nest session of Congress.”

Local effort champion and retired U.S. Army Col. Nestor Aliga is also annoyed and also has no intention of surrendering.

“Note that this is only ‘to begin planning initial repairs,’” Aliga says in an email. “The work would likely begin in late 2019, ‘subject to the availability of the IRT unit, further cost negotiations with the city, and other necessary advance work, including environmental reviews.’ In other words, this IRT project is not yet fully approved to be executed.”

Aliga said it is hoped that the Mare Island-based 374th Engineer Company and/or 801st Engineer Company, “will be willing, ie., their operational tempo or deployments will not interfere, and are able, ie., they have the right TOE —Table of Organization (personnel with the right Military Occupational Specialties) and Equipment (earthmovers, etc.) to do the entire project.”

The Reserves companies could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The cemetery is a National Historic Landmark, “so we are also hoping that both the Veterans Affairs and National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior will also provide on-site expert support to insure that we all abide by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 — which require a greater level of preservation diligence,” Aliga added.