Fort Reno Post Cemetery

We took a short drive west to Fort Reno and visited the historic post cemetery. There are a number of "Unknown" graves, like the two above, along with many older graves of soldiers from the late 1800s, like this one:



On the west side of the cemetery, cordoned off from the rest of the grounds, is a set of 70 graves of WW2 German and Italian POWs (mainly those captured during the Africa campaigns) who died in nearby prison camps.

The Yankee Clipper...

We live a stone's throw away from Colma, the Bay Area's cemetery central. In the early 1900's (before the quake), the city of San Francisco banned any further burials in the city limits. Colma, just south of San Francisco, sprung up with several large cemeteries. In the mid 30's, SF actually took the next step, and disinterred all of the graves in the city (with the exception of the Presidio National Cemetery) and relocated all the bodies to Colma.

As a result, we have a number of notable people buried very close to where we live.

Occasionally, I like to pass through some of these places. Many of them are quite beautiful, containing huge ornate crypts, massive beautiful scultpured monuments, and the like.

Passing through Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, I was struck by the sight of an unusual black crypt. Closer examination showed bats and balls among the decorations around it. This was the final resting place of Giuseppi (anglicized to Joseph) Paul DiMaggio -- Joltin' Joe, the Yankee Clipper.

This man had 2214 hits and 361 home runs in 10 seasons with the Yankees. In the summer of 1941, he hit safely in 56 consecutive games, a record that still stands.

He served his country with distinction in WW2, even though he wasn't allowed to fight in theater (the loss of such a great man was considered by the military to be too much of potential morale loss to risk).

Then, on a late summer day in 1952, he had a blind date with a young blond actress...

Golden Gate Cemetary Visit ...

I went by the Golden Gate National Cemetary today in search of today's picture.

It is a surreal place. You can see the other pictures I took at the flickr page, where you'll get just a hint of how immense this place is.

This particular picture is of the final resting place of a number of amazing men, leaders and heros each.

The first is Admiral Chester Nimitz -- the highest ranking naval officer in WW2. He was the US signer for the peace treaty that ended the war with Japan. After the war, he made the comment that "Our armament must be adequate to the needs, but our faith is not primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves." Tons more info can be found at his Wikipedia article.

Another is Leo J. Ryan. For those who don't know, Leo Ryan was a congressman from the Bay Area who went to Guyana to investigate the People's Temple Cult in 1978. He was murdered there by members of the cult just before the infamous "Jonestown" mass suicide. What most people don't know about Ryan is that he went to Watts and taught school after the riots to see first-hand the conditions there. He went to Folsom Prison undercover to see those conditions while serving as the chairman of the committee in the state lesiglature that oversaw prison reform. Wikipedia article here

Also in this picture (though his stone is blurred in the background) is Congressional Medal of Honor winner Vito R. Bertoldo, yet another hero who showed tremendous courage and leadership under fire in World War 2. His citation for the CMOH tells far more than I could add. You can read it here