Wreath campaign launched
Vallejo Naval League president hopes to decorate all 1,000 graves
Steve Nash wants to say thank you to fallen veterans. A thousand times he wants to say thank you.
The president of the Vallejo Naval League has helped begin a GoFundMe campaign that aims to place a wreath on 1,000 tombstones in Mare Island Cemetery. The Vallejo Navy League wants to place the wreaths on the graves on the same day and same hour as in Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 19. The wreaths are selling for $15 each.
“This cemetery also needs help and it needs attention,” Nash said. “Let’s not forget the fallen heroes there.”
Nash, a U. S. Navy veteran, said he got the idea to have the wreaths after he saw it done in Sacramento. Nash has also been to Arlington in the past.
“It was very solemn,” Nash said. “You walk around and you can feel the history and how we
need to take care of the veterans.”
The Mare Island Cemetery is the oldest naval cemetery on the West Coast and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. It has three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients: James Cooney, Alexander Parker and William Halford.
The Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve and cemetery is now closed to the public until Nov. 12 due to continued construction and restoration on the Island. The City of Vallejo closed the Mare Island Preserve in October 2019 after a series of wildfires burned over 40 acres.
Since the fire, city staff has addressed various wildfire-related issues on the open space, including shoring up burned areas and addressing safety issues resulting from severe fire damage. Many trees that used to surround the cemetery have been removed, as well as a portion of the white picket fence that surrounded it, although portions of the fence will be put back after the drainage system is repaired.
Work began in early September on the cemetery and it requires a closure of the preserve until the project is complete. The IRT project includes grading, installation of drainage systems, minor restoration of burial sites, and fence repair throughout the area.
U. S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D- St. Helena, announced over the summer that his legislation to transfer control of the Mare Island Naval Cemetery to the Department of Veterans Affairs was included in the National Defense Authorization Act.
This provision allows for the cemetery to be properly repaired and maintained as the final resting place for hundreds of our nation’s heroes.
So far the GoFundMe campaign is moving slowly, only $195 have been raised on the site in its six days since it has been created. Harris Kuhn donated $100 of that amount.
Nash said some money is already coming in through checks. He said a wine company out of Petaluma is set to donate $1,000.
The deadline for donations is Nov. 15.
“I’m hoping it picks up because I really don’t want to be the one that decides which tombstones get a wreath and which ones don’t,” Nash said. “I want there to be a wreath at every single site.”
So far the GoFundMe campaign is moving slowly, only $195 have been raised on the site.
To donate to the cause v isit charity. gofundme. com/o/en/campaign/marei sla nd- n av a l- c eme t er ywreaths-across-america or call Nash at his office at (415) 996-3530.