thumb|300px|A [[SH-60 Seahawk|Seahawk flies past the cemetery.]]

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Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is a federal military cemetery in San Diego, California. It is located on the grounds of the former Army coastal artillery station Fort Rosecrans and is administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Fort Rosecrans is named after William Starke Rosecrans, a Union general in the American Civil War.

The cemetery is located approximately west of downtown San Diego, overlooking San Diego Bay and the city from one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. The cemetery was registered as California Historical Landmark #55 on December 6, 1932. The cemetery is spread out over located on both sides of Catalina Blvd.

History

Many Fort Rosecrans interments date to the early years of the California Republic, including the remains of the casualties of the Battle of San Pasqual, in which 19 of Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny's men and an untold number of Californios lost their lives. Initially, the dead were buried where they fell, but by 1874 the remains had been removed to the San Diego Military Reservation. Eight years later, the bodies were again reinterred at what is now Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. In 1922, the San Diego chapter of the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West had a large boulder brought from the battlefield and placed at the gravesite with a plaque affixed that lists the names of the dead.

Another notable monument in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is the USS Bennington Monument which commemorates the deaths of 62 sailors in a boiler explosion aboard . Bennington, which had just returned from maneuvers in the Pacific, was anchored in San Diego Harbor. On July 21, 1905, the crew was ordered to depart in search for , which had lost a propeller at sea. At approximately 10:30 a.m., an explosion in the boiler room ripped through the ship, killing or wounding the majority of the crew. Two days later the remains of soldiers and sailors were brought to the post cemetery and interred in an area known as Bennington Plot. The decision to make the post cemetery part of the national system came, in part, due to changes in legislation that greatly increased the number of persons eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Grave space in San Francisco National Cemetery then grew increasingly limited. In addition, southern California was experiencing a phenomenal population growth during this period, and there was a definitive need for more burial sites.

All available space for casketed remains at Fort Rosecrans was exhausted in the late 1960s, but cremated remains continued to be accepted.

In 1973, Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery was placed under the control of the Veterans Administration. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

  • Douglas Croft (1926–1963), U.S. Army (World War II), child actor
  • Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Thomas Sherman Crow (1934–2008), fourth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy from 1979 to 1982.
  • Captain Thomas Darden (1900–1961), U.S. Navy, 37th Governor of American Samoa
  • Admiral Donald C. Davis (1921–1998), U.S. Navy, served in World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War, later commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet
  • Major General Alphonse DeCarre (1892–1977), U.S. Marine Corps, World War I recipient of the Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart
  • Lieutenant General Joseph C. Fegan Jr. (1920–1991), U.S. Marine Corps, recipient of two Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts
  • Major Reuben H. Fleet (1887–1975), World War I aviator. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego was named after him
  • Sally Forrest (1928–2015), actress, wife of Captain Milo Ogden Frank Jr. (1921–2004), U.S. Marine Corps (World War II)
  • Corporal Richard Garrick (1878–1962), U.S. Army, film director and actor. He served during the Spanish–American War
  • Brigadier General Vernon M. Guymon (1898–1965), U.S. Marine Corps, Naval aviator who earned the Silver Star in World War I as Ground officer, later decorated with the Navy Cross in Nicaragua
  • Vice Admiral Edward Hanson (1889–1959), U.S. Navy], 28th Governor of American Samoa and World War I recipient of the Navy Cross
  • Mary Beardslee Hinds (1874–1952) – First Lady of Guam.
  • Major General Bruno Hochmuth (1911–1967), U.S. Marine Corps, first Marine division commander to be killed in any war
  • Major General Archie F. Howard (1892–1964), U.S. Marine Corps, served in World War I, World War II, and China as Commanding General, 6th Marine Division.
  • Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak (1913–2008), U.S. Marine Corps, served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam in which he served as the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. He was also the father of retired Marine General Charles Krulak, the 31st U.S. Marine Corps Commandant
  • Major General Frank C. Lang (1918–2008), U.S. Marine Corps aviator, served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam
  • Vice Admiral William R. Munroe (1886–1966), United States Navy admiral who commanded ashore and afloat in the Atlantic theater during World War II
  • Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton (1860–1942), U.S. Marine Corps general, Navy Cross recipient. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Pendleton Street in Pacific Beach, San Diego were named after him
  • Sergeant Rafael Peralta (1979–2004), U.S. Marine Corps, Second Battle of Fallujah Navy Cross recipient
  • Lieutenant General Charles F. B. Price (1881–1954), U.S. Marine Corps, Legion of Merit awardee
  • Brigadier general Stanley E. Ridderhof (1896–1962), U.S. Marine Corps, Naval aviator who earned Navy Cross in Nicaragua
  • Colonel Thomas Ridgway (1861–1939), U.S. Army officer and father of General Matthew Ridgway
  • General Harry Schmidt (1886–1968), U.S. Marine Corps, Navy Cross, Commanded the 4th Marine Division and the Fifth Amphibious Corps, World War II
  • Rear Admiral Thomas J. Senn (1871–1947), U.S. Navy, Commander of USS North Dakota and also World War I recipient of the Navy Cross
  • Brigadier General Walter Cowen Short (1870–1952), U.S. Army, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division
  • General Holland Smith (1884–1967), U.S. Marine Corps, commanded the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) in the Pacific during World War II and led the "island hopping" campaign in the central Pacific
  • Eleanor Washington Spicer (1903–1974), 28th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution
  • Lt. Colonel Laurence Stallings (1894–1968), U.S. Marine Corps, a playwright and screenwriter with over two dozen writing credits, including What Price Glory?
  • Lt. General John T. Walker (1893–1955), U.S. Marine Corps, commanded 22nd Marine Regiment during World War II and recipient of the Navy Cross
  • PHMC Coy Watson Jr. (1912–2009), U.S. Coast Guard, child actor
  • Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Donaldson "Jack" Whittet, second Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy from 1971 to 1975

Commonwealth War Graves Commission burials

  • James Frederick Hynes (1898–1919), Royal Navy of World War I
  • Henry John Johnson (1916–1943), Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy) of World War II

Eligibility

Burial in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery was available for eligible veterans, their spouses and dependents at no cost to the family and includes the gravesite, grave-liner, opening and closing of the grave, a headstone or marker, and perpetual care as part of a national shrine. For veterans, benefits may also include a burial flag (with case for active duty), and military funeral honors. Family members and other loved ones of deceased veterans may request Presidential Memorial Certificates.

Veterans discharged from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable and servicemembers who die while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training, as well as spouses and dependent children of veterans and active duty servicemembers, may be eligible for VA burial and memorial benefits including burial in a national cemetery. The veteran does not have to die before the spouse or dependent child for that person to be eligible.

Reservists and National Guard members, as well as their spouses and dependent children, are eligible if they were entitled to retired pay at the time of death, or would have been upon reaching requisite age.

Burial of dependent children is limited to unmarried children under 21 years of age, or under 23 years of age if a full-time student at an approved educational institution. Unmarried adult children who become physically or mentally disabled and incapable of self-support before age 21, or age 23 if a full-time student, also are eligible for burial.

A Federal law passed in 2010 (Public Law 111-275) extends burial benefits to certain parents of servicemembers who die as a result of hostile activity or from combat training-related injuries who are buried in a national cemetery in a gravesite with available space. The biological or adopted parents of a servicemember who dies in combat or while performing training in preparation for a combat mission, leaving no surviving spouse or dependent child, may be buried with the deceased servicemember if the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines that there is available space. The law applies to servicemembers who died on or after Oct. 7, 2001 and to parents who died on or after Oct. 13, 2010.

References

  • Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
  • Online grave locator service provided by the VA
  • Interment.net burial records of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
  • USS Bennington
  • CWGC: San Diego (Fort Rosecrans) National Cemetery