24 May 2009

Full military honors at Fort Rosecrans

Today's (24 May 2009) San Diego Union-Tribune has a wonderful front-page article titled "Full military honors" by staff writer Steve Liewer. The sub-heading is "A week of burials at Fort Rosecrans yields uniquely American stories." Some of the key paragraphs:

"Across the 77½ scenic acres of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, the loss is made tangible in the names newly etched on white-marble stones. "

"The crowded cemetery has been closed to most casket burials for the past four decades. But Fort Rosecrans remains a busy place, its life extended by the construction of thousands of spaces for urns. Altogether, more than 96,000 veterans and their family members have been laid to rest there. "

Life stories of several of the recently interred veterans are shared in the article.

There is a video memorial for the 25 veterans laid to rest at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery during the week of April 12-18, 2009. You can see it here. If you click on each name, you can read a short biographical sketch of each person on the video.

1 comment:

gsgenealogy said...

Randy,
We just buried my step-dad at Ft. Roscrans (cremation) in May, during the week before Memorial Day. The area with the podium is called the Rostrum. The Army Honor Guard did taps, flag folding and flag presentation. It was very touching. There was a little mix up with the procession to the site because there was another funeral service at the same time in the gazebo area.

I also have another relative buried there my great grandmother's brother George F. Riddell.

The Union Trib article was a nice tribute to the vets.