Naval Cemetery rededicated on Veterans Day

The refurbished Mare Island Naval Cemetery (MINC) in Vallejo was rededicated on Veterans Day by 200 socially-distanced, mask-wearing individuals in an outdoor, overcast, 60-degree, 5 mph-wind setting.

Our keynote speaker was Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis. Ed Grimsley, our Department of California Commander, was one of the acknowledged special guests.

Due to COVID / HPCON-C (Health Protection Condition-Charlie) guidelines, most of our out-of-area federal invitees opted to not to travel. So we asked all of them to provide video-taped messages. We then combined their videos with the live speakers to create YouTube – which you can view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS62lG7psmI (or search for “youtube+nestor+aliga+mare“).

Readers of the California Legionnaire magazine have probably seen the handful of articles I’ve written on MINC since 2018.

For a little review: MINC is the oldest naval cemetery on the west coast. Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies have been held there since 1871 and 1920, respectively. Designated as a National Historic Landmark, MINC has three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients: James Cooney, USMC; William Halford, USN; and Alexander Parker, USN.

Over 860 Sailors and Marines who served in the periods from the War of 1812 to the World War I and 100+ of their relatives are interred here. The first burial was George Dowd of the USS Massachusetts on February 12, 1856, Pres. Lincoln’s birthday.

MINC closed in 1921 but the last pre-arranged family burial was in 1984. Also buried there is Anna Arnold Key Turner whose husband, Daniel, fought in the War of 1812, and she is the daughter of Francis Scott Key who wrote our beloved National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.

In March 2017, retired US Navy Captain Ralph Parrott of Virginia visited MINC and was appalled at its dilapidated condition. Parrott and Karnig Ohannessian, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Enviroment), then assisted the City of Vallejo in applying for the Department of Defense Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program.

Concurrently, Parrott enlisted many volunteers including Thomas Bandzul of Washington, DC, retired US Army Colonel Nestor Aliga of Vallejo, and Robert Wyllie of the Scottish American Military Society to urge the federal government to re-possess MINC per the provisions of Public Law 93-43, National Cemeteries Act of 1973.

Their petition quickly collected over 50,000 signatures and they also secured the unwavering support of The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, (the Big 2), AmVets, VVA, Purple Heart, IAVA, Navy League, WWP, MinorityVets, FRA, MilitaryWomensCoalition, NABMW, and other veterans service organizations.

The US Army Reserve’s 801st Engineer Company (Construction) based at Mare Island, the City of Vallejo, and many volunteers started the IRT in August 2019. But operations were suspended from March to August due to COVID / HPCON-C guidelines.

Today, they have nearly completed this extensive project to bring MINC back to national shrine conditions worthy of Pres. Lincoln’s promise, “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”

From 2018 to 2020, REP Mike Thompson and SEN Dianne Feinstein introduced H.R.5588, H.R.578, H.R.6039 and S.2881, S.127, S.2983, respectively, but they were not passed by the House nor Senate Veterans Affairs (VA) Committees.

However, we are now optimistic that their July 2020 amendments to the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act “…to require the VA to seek an agreement with Vallejo for the transfer of MINC…” will pass by year-end.

By the way, the Benicia Arsenal Post Cemetery, the west coast’s oldest Army cemetery, quietly transferred to the US Veterans Affairs in September 2020 and it is the newest VA National Cemetery on the west coast.

If everything goes well, we are looking at 1 to 2 years for MINC to become another VA National Cemetery. More importantly, MINC can be re-opened for new interments so that the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) Veteran Utilization Rate will increase.

Nationwide, less than 20% of eligible Veterans and family members chose to be buried with the NCA because daily or frequent visits to their departed loved one(s) is important for their grieving and closure process. The NCA’s 75 mile-rule, as-the-crow flies, is just too far to traverse especially in congested metropolitan areas.

The NCA taking over then re-opening MINC as soon as practical is a win-win solution for the San Francisco Bay Area until the Alameda Point National Cemetery – which has been delayed many times since the President G.W. Bush era – is finally built within a decade.