thedrifter
08-21-08, 08:31 AM
Mobile National Cemetery receives $400,000 facelift
Burial sites include Civil War soldiers and World War II Medal of Honor winner
Thursday, August 21, 2008
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
Historic Mobile National Cemetery — whose earliest occupants include Union and Confederate soldiers — is getting a facelift.
Work at the cemetery on Virginia Street involves straightening and aligning its thousands of gravestones to bring it up to the standards of national cemeteries throughout the nation, a spokesman said Wednesday.
"It's called 'Project Millennium,'" said Claude Rivers, director of Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola and Mobile National Cemetery. "It involves raising each headstone to make them all in perfect alignment and cleaning each one and putting down new dirt and grass."
The project — already under way — is expected to be completed within two months, he said.
He said the $400,000 Mobile project was awarded to Laurcal Inc., of Nipomo, Calif., and is under the jurisdiction of the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rivers said similar work is also under way at other national cemeteries.
Rivers said the Mobile cemetery was established in 1866, and that the initial burials included 706 Union soldiers — including 78 serving in segregated units under the term designated as "U.S. Colored Troops" — 23 civilian employees of the U.S. Army, four Confederate soldiers and 112 "unknowns."
Historical data provided by Rivers revealed that also buried there were "the remains of 35 seamen and sailors from various vessels operating in and about Mobile Bay during the Civil War." The material also lists as being interred at the cemetery as "13 Apache Indians captured at Mount Vernon, including Chappo, the son of Geronimo."
The cemetery is the burial site of Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Pfc. John D. New, who was killed in the Pacific Theater during World War II when he threw himself on top of an enemy grenade in order to save the lives of his fellow Marines.
The cemetery covers 5.2 acres and contains 5,345 veterans and spouses, Rivers said. The cemetery is full and now takes only a veteran or spouse who already has a spouse buried there, Rivers said.
"It doesn't look great right now, but it's going to when the work is finished," Rivers said.
He said future work will include repairs to the wall around the cemetery.
Ellie
Burial sites include Civil War soldiers and World War II Medal of Honor winner
Thursday, August 21, 2008
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
Historic Mobile National Cemetery — whose earliest occupants include Union and Confederate soldiers — is getting a facelift.
Work at the cemetery on Virginia Street involves straightening and aligning its thousands of gravestones to bring it up to the standards of national cemeteries throughout the nation, a spokesman said Wednesday.
"It's called 'Project Millennium,'" said Claude Rivers, director of Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola and Mobile National Cemetery. "It involves raising each headstone to make them all in perfect alignment and cleaning each one and putting down new dirt and grass."
The project — already under way — is expected to be completed within two months, he said.
He said the $400,000 Mobile project was awarded to Laurcal Inc., of Nipomo, Calif., and is under the jurisdiction of the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rivers said similar work is also under way at other national cemeteries.
Rivers said the Mobile cemetery was established in 1866, and that the initial burials included 706 Union soldiers — including 78 serving in segregated units under the term designated as "U.S. Colored Troops" — 23 civilian employees of the U.S. Army, four Confederate soldiers and 112 "unknowns."
Historical data provided by Rivers revealed that also buried there were "the remains of 35 seamen and sailors from various vessels operating in and about Mobile Bay during the Civil War." The material also lists as being interred at the cemetery as "13 Apache Indians captured at Mount Vernon, including Chappo, the son of Geronimo."
The cemetery is the burial site of Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Pfc. John D. New, who was killed in the Pacific Theater during World War II when he threw himself on top of an enemy grenade in order to save the lives of his fellow Marines.
The cemetery covers 5.2 acres and contains 5,345 veterans and spouses, Rivers said. The cemetery is full and now takes only a veteran or spouse who already has a spouse buried there, Rivers said.
"It doesn't look great right now, but it's going to when the work is finished," Rivers said.
He said future work will include repairs to the wall around the cemetery.
Ellie