About two weeks after ownership of the Mare Island Naval Cemetery was officially transferred from the City of Vallejo to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA announced on Tuesday that it has “officially taken responsibility for administration and maintenance” for the venue.
As it has been for over 20 years, the cemetery will remain closed for interments.
A news release by the VA states “the site will be managed by Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, which also maintains the Benicia Arsenal Post Cemetery that was transferred to VA by the Department of the Army in 2020.”
“We accept the sacred trust to care for the graves and maintain the memory of Veterans and all those who have been laid to rest at Mare Island Naval Cemetery,” said Matthew Quinn, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) in a news release. “We will begin designing improvements at this historic cemetery in the near future to meet NCA’s appearance standards that Americans have come to expect from any of our cemeteries.”
The cemetery, the oldest Naval one on the West Coast, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. It has three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients — James Cooney, Alexander Parker and William Halford.
According to that same news release, Vallejo area veterans and their eligible family members will continue to have access to burial…
