Arlington National Cemetery Asks Public Input on Eligibility Rules

As space has become limited, the Department of Defense considers new eligibility rules for the iconic Arlington Cemetery and seeks public and stakeholder input.




Arlington Eligibility Survey

Severe Weather Impacting National Cemetery Burials

The National Cemetery Scheduling Office in St. Louis, Missouri, is expecting a severe weather event January 13-14, 2017 that may extended wait times due to and limited staff available to assist you. We will make every effort to answer your call as quickly as possible. On Friday, January 13, only, should you need to schedule a burial, please contact the national cemetery of choice directly and they will be happy to assist with burial scheduling and eligibility questions. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this unavoidable event.

Source: VA National Cemetery Administration, 13 Jan 2017

National Cemetery Closures Caused by Hurricane Matthew

The Department of Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration reports:

The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) has closed four cemeteries through Sunday evening due to Hurricane Matthew. They are: Beaufort National Cemetery, Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, Jacksonville National Cemetery, St. Augustine National Cemetery, South Florida National Cemetery. When it is safe and possible to do so, we will assess whether conditions are safe enough to reopen to visitors. We will update you at that time through the NCA website and our GOV Delivery system.

We are communicating directly with families and funeral homes that have scheduled interments on Monday and Tuesday on the status of these interments.

If you have questions concerning National Cemetery Administration interments in any of the hurricane affected areas, please call the National Scheduling Office at 1-800-535-1117.

This announcement came  to The Peripatetic Graveyard Rabbit on Sunday afternoon, 9 October 2016. No word yet on the status of these cemeteries.

Cemeteries As Playgrounds?

From Public Radio International:


In Germany some cemeteries are being turned into parks, playgrounds and gardens 

"What Happens When A Cemetery Dies?" Here's What Happened in One Place

Thanks to Donna Pointkouski for first spotting this!



www.phillymag.com,    Saturday, 30 July 2016.

Tallahassee National Cemetery--First Memorial Day, 30 May 2016

Tallahassee National Cemetery, one of newest VA cemeteries in the nation, marks its first Memorial Day today, Monday, 30 May 2016. Tallahassee National Cemetery is located in Leon County, with frontage along U.S. Highway 27 (Apalachee Parkway) near March Road and east of Tallahassee in Florida. The Department of Veterans Affairs purchased the 250-acre parcel of land in August 2012 for $6.8 million. Construction on the cemetery began October 2014. The cemetery was dedicated 22 May 2015, and held its first day service on 16 October 2015. The cemetery will serve over 83,000 Veterans in Tallahassee and the surrounding area. The initial phase of construction is expected to provide burial options for 10 years. Tallahassee National Cemetery is part of one of the largest expansions ever of the VA's National Cemetery system as recommended in a 2008 independent study. The National Cemetery system has been stressed by the demise of World War II era veterans, an aging baby boomer veteran population, and 14 years of active military operations in Southwest Asia. Tallahassee National Cemetery is located at 5015 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, FL 32311.

Can't Find Your Quaker Ancestor's Grave? How Quaker Cemeteries Are Different

If you've had difficulty finding your Quaker ancestor's gravesite, this video may help explain why. It's one in a series called QuakerSpeak, produced by Friends Journal. The series covers a number of topics, historical and contemporary, about the Society of Friends. You can find the magazine online at friendsjournal.org.

Coming Soon! Another Way to Get Peripatetic Graveyard Rabbit News

Next week, Geneablogie Publications will introduce The Peripatetic Graveyard Rabbit News, an Internet newspaper format where you can get  even more of the news content that you find in this blog! Watch for it!

Wreaths Across America Ceremonies at VA National Cemeteries

 See this link:





Wreaths Across America Ceremonies at VA National Cemeteries

Extraterritorial Graveyards: Graveyards in Foreign Countries Owned by Another Country

We've made mention in this space before about the American Battle Monuments Commission which maintains cemeteries and memorials overseas, usuch as that at Epinal, France, where my cousin Chaarles T. Bowie lies in repose. The ABMC oversees sites in 16 foreign countries and the UK Dependency of Gibraltar.  (The ABMC also has  four sites within the United States – can you name one?).

But did you know that there are several foreign owned cemeteries and memorials in the United States itself?

Two cemeteries on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States, one on Ocracoke Island and one on Hatteras Island in the town of Buxton, are owned by the United Kingdom. Both contain the graves of British seamen whose bodies washed ashore after German U-Boat attacks that occurred on 10 April 1942 against the San Delfino  and 11 May 1942 against (HMT Bedfordshire). Although thirty-eight souls were lost aboard the Bedfordshire, only five bodies were recovered. Four graves are at Ocracoke and two at Buxton; three of the bodies were never identified; one of them could be that of a Canadian seaman. The plot of land at Ocracoke "has been forever ceded to England" and is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The plot was leased to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for as long as the land remained a cemetery. The graves on Hatteras Island are maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. Ironically, this portion of the Outer Banks is where the pirate Blackbeard was killed by British forces in 1718.

 The Captain Cook Monument at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, and about 25 square feet (2.3 m²) of land around it, the place where James Cook was killed in 1779, is owned by the United Kingdom. An historian on the occasion of the monument's 50th anniversary recorded in 1928 that the white stone "obelisk monument [was] erected to the memory of Captain Cook, about 1876, and on land deeded outright to the British Government by Princess Likelike, sister of King Kalakaua, about the same year, so that that square is absolute British Territory." Hawaii was a sovereign nation at the time. According to a 2011 article by John M. MacFarland, "The land under the monument was deeded to the United Kingdom in 1877 and is considered as sovereign non-embassy land owned by the British Embassy in Washington DC. ... the Hawaiian State Parks agency maintained that as sovereign British territory it was the responsibility of the UK to maintain the site."

Prayer of Thanksgiving (We Gather Together) - Perry Como

Cape Canaveral National Cemetery Dedication

VA Launches Cape Canaveral National Cemetery

Cape Canaveral National Cemetery

Happening now! Launch of Cape Canaveral National Cemetery. See video here later.

USA's Newest VA Cemetery to be Dedicated Fri Nov 20--All Americans Invited

Mims, Florida--The nation's newest veterans' cemetery will be dedicated on Friday, November 20, 2015.  The Cape Canaveral National Cemetery will be opened  with a keynote address by the Honorable Robert A. McDonald, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The 2:00 pm (Eastern Time) ceremony is set for one hour with preliminary activities starting at 1:00 pm. Greg Pallone of Central Florida News 13 will be the master of ceremonies and retired NASA astronaut Robert Springer will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The Patrick Air Force Base Honor Guard,  the Florida National Guard Honors Firing Party, and the 13th Army band will also participate.  VA Undersecretary Ronald Walters, who heads the national cemetery division, has invited all Americans to the ceremony. For those who can't make it to the Space Coast on Friday, The Peripatetic Graveyard Rabbit will have video of the ceremony by mid afternoon Pacific time.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 318 acre cemetery, located along U.S. Hwy. 1 in northern Brevard County, will serve the needs of 163,000 veterans in its service area for the next 100 years.

Although construction on the first phase of the cemetery estimated to hold 17,000 gravesites, will not be completed until May 2017, the VA's contractor, G&C Fab-Con LLC of Flemington, New Jersey, is ahead of schedule, according to Don W Murphy, director of the new cemetery.  The early turnover of a portion of the cemetery will provide burial options for the next 10 years according to Murphy.

Families of eligible veterans may apply now for burial services. Families should call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-800-535-1117.

G&C Fab-Con LLC is a service disabled owned company which specializes in Veterans Affairs projects.

Murphy, the cemetery director, is an Army veteran of operation Desert Storm. He began his career with the VA in 1992 as a clerk typist, and by 1997 had worked his way up to deputy director of operations of Veterans Affairs' cemetery division in Washington, DC.





Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, 5525 US Highway 1, Mims, Florida--How to Get There:

From Orlando International Airport – Take 528 East 26 miles to 407 North (Kennedy Space Center), travel 5 miles to I-95, then North on I-95 for 19 miles to Exit 231.

From Melbourne/Southern Brevard County - Take I-95 North 50 miles to Exit 231.
From Daytona – Take I-95 South 30 miles to Exit 231.

From Exit 231 – Drive one mile to U.S. Highway 1, turn right and drive one mile, turn left on Huntington Road – Drive ¾ mile then turn right on Dixie Way – Ceremony area will be on the right.

From Mims or Titusville via U.S. Highway 1 – Travel north on U.S. Hwy 1, after entering Scottsmoor drive past the cemetery property and turn right on Huntington Road, follow direction signs to ceremony area.

Catholic Cemetery Records Online

Catholic cemeteries in any given location generally are owned or controlled by the diocese or archdiocese for that area. The good news is that all of the major dioceses and some not-so-major ones have web pages devoted to their Catholic cemeteries. But these websites vary in terms of the genealogical information one will find there. Most will at least include a note about the diocese's policies and procedures for genealogical research. My (less-than-scientific) canvass of diocesean procedures indicates that many will respond to mail requests for information and charge a small fee for the service. Many dioceses have PDF forms online for genealogical requests or direct email access for questions. But several dioceses have gone a step further, with searchable databases for their cemeteries.

Two of the better searchable databases can be found in the Archdiocese of St Louis and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Other U.S. dioceses with searchable cemetery records online include:


Archdiocese of Seattle
Diocese of Fresno (Calif.)
Diocese of Wilmington (Del.)(includes Eastern Shore of Maryland)

If you know of other sites with searchable databases of Catholic cemetery records, please share in the comments here.

When Is An Indian Burial Ground Not an Indian Burial Ground?

Answer: When We Want to Build a Sam's Club!

Read all about it!

For more: see the post at Deep Fried Kudzu.

Sixty-five Years Ago . . . Isn't Really That Long Ago

The American Cemetery and Memorial, Normandy, France
Maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, an agency of the United States Government

Greenwood Cemetery, St Louis

Greenwood Cemetery is an African-American cemetery in St. in St. Louis County. It has a rich and storied history in has seen good times and bad. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Greenwood has an estimated 50,000 graves. The earliest grave dates from 1874. Here is an excerpt from the national register of historic places nomination form for Greenwood Cemetery:

Established on January 19, 1874 by Herman Krueger, this is the first non-sectarian commercial cemetery for African Americans in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The cemetery has approximately 6000 marked graves, but is thought to contain over 50,000 burials. The graves represent a cross section of the African American community in St. Louis from former slaves and common laborers to community leaders in the small but thriving black middle class. The cemetery is characteristic of the rural cemetery movement, however, remnants of African and Southern black burial customs can be found throughout the cemetery.

Many of the people buried at Greenwood were originally inhabitants of Mississippi and other Southern states who participated in this Great Migration.

With desegregation, however, the need for separate cemeteries eventually ended, as did the commercial viability of St Louis' black privately owned cemeteries. By the 1980s all three commercial black cemeteries in the city had been sold to new owners, who soon discovered that there were no perpetual-care funds to maintain the facilities. The only source of income was the sale of new plots—a source inadequate to the maintenance needs at Greenwood. The result was that the cemetery rapidly declined and became a dumping ground and target for vandals.

State of Missouri, Department of Natural Resources, Nomination Form for Greenwood Cemetery to be on National Register of Historic Places (2004) [edited for brevity and consistency].

Bud light was soon on the horizon for Greenwood Cemetery. In March, 2000, the Attorney General of Missouri acted to declare Greenwood "abandoned" in that way forced the sale of the cemetery to St Louis County. Since that time, a nonprofit group known as Friends of Greenwood Cemetery has worked tirelessly to improve the condition of Greenwood Cemetery. Many of the group members are individuals who have family members buried in the cemetery. The Friends' efforts have been supported by the Missouri National Guard, Monsanto, the Boy Scouts, Southwestern Bell (now AT&T), and other organizations. Their efforts, though sincere, have at times been frustrating.

I recently was in contact with a Find-A-Grave volunteer who said while parts of the cemetery are still in poor condition, the group working on it has "cut down brush and tress in the center and uncovered some markers that go back to the 20's." They've also fixed a road.

At this link, there is a video that describes recent efforts to rehabilitate Greenwood Cemetery. All those who volunteer for such projects deserve the community's gratitude!

A number of notable people are buried at Greenwood. These include Harriet Scott, the wife of Dred Scott, and many musicians, artists, businesspeople, educators, and other prominent persons in the history of Black St. Louis.

My great great grandfather Elias A. Bowie [not to be confused with his son Elias G. Bowie, or his other son, Elias Bowie Jr., my granduncle] who died in 1970, is buried at Greenwood.

Also buried at Greenwood is a man named Lee Shelton. Lee Shelton died at the Missouri State penitentiary in 1912. He was serving a term for the murder of a man named William Lyons.

Contest Question [what's this?] : What were the meteorological, astronomical, and seasonal conditions on the night of the murder of William Lyons (according to the most popular folk culture account of the murder)?

If you know the answer to this question, put the answer in a comment to this post, or as a comment to the post on this link over at Geneablogie. State the source for your answer!

Image Sources:

1. Greenwood photograph: State of Missouri, Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives Missouri Digital Heritage Collections: Greenwood Cemetery Funerary Art [photographer and date unknown], available at

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fgreenwood&CISOSORT=title|r
(accessed 5 June 2009)

2. Shelton Death Certificate: State of Missouri, Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives, Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1958. Available at
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/#search (searched 4 June 2009)

Memorial Day 2009

If you haven't been to Arlington Cemetery in the last several years, you may not recognize the memorial shown above. It is the "Women in Military Service for America" memorial and it stands near the gate of the cemetery.

The women's memorial is intended to recall all women who gave their lives in military service. But there's one group of servicewomen who were nearly forgotten by the Government with respect to recognition. That group is the Women's Airforce Service Pilots ("WASPs") of World War II. These were the first women pilots employed by the United States military.

The government first used women to fly military airplanes in 1942. The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) was formed in September of that year under the command of Nancy Love at New Castle Army Air Base, Delaware. This unit ferried aircraft from factories to airfields, freeing the male pilots for combat duty.

In 1943, the Army activated the 319th Women's Flying Training Detahcment at Ellington Army Air Field, near Houston, Texas. The commander was renowned aviator Jacqueline Cochran. Later, the two women's flying units were combined under the name "Women's Airforce Service Pilots." Cochran was given overall command, and training was moved to Avenger Field near Sweetwater, Texas.

The women pilots flew almost every military aircraft in the U.S. inventory. In addition to ferrying duty, the WASPs towed targets for live-fire antiaircraft exercises, trained male pilots in some of the advanced aircraft, flew simulated bomb and strafing runs for training combat troops, and performed other flying duties when and where necessary to relieve male pilots.

On March 3, 1943, Margaret Sanford Oldenberg of Contra Costa County, California, became the first WASP to die in the line of duty when her plane crashed five miles from the airfield. Overall, thirty-eight women were killed in the line of duty.

But the Government did not consider the WASPs to be service veterans. They were therefore entitled to no medals, and no funeral honors. That changed somewhat in 1977 when Congress passed a law permitting the Secretary of Dfense to recognize the WASPs as having performed military duty. Despite this change in status, the Army, which operates Arlington National Cemetery, refused to allow WASP members to be buried there until 2002.

In 2002, former WASP Irene Kinne Englund died at age 84. Her family attempted to have her buried at Arlington based on her WASP service. They were told that she eligible, but onl;y because her husband was a World War II veteran, not because of her own service. Her daughter, Judith Englund, took up the cause for her mother and all WASPs. Several months later, the Army changed its mind.

One June 15, 2002, WASP Irene Kinne Englund became the first of her sisters of the air to have a full military funeral at Arlington.

Cross-posted at Geneablogie.