By Times-Herald staff
May22, 2005
THE MARE ISLAND HISTORICAL CEMETERY will get a needed sprucing up this morning by the POW-MIA Veterans Motorcycle Club. The public is invited to the 10 a.m. cleanup that prepares the cemetery for a Memorial Day service. David Pacheco/Times-Herald file photo The POW-MIA Riders Veterans Motorcycle Club have volunteered this morning to help clean up a landmark on a closed naval shipyard.
At 10 a.m., members of the motorcycle club will head out to the Mare Island Historic Cemetery to prepare the location for Memorial Day services the following week.
The club meets the city of Vallejo's Joe Bates and Mare Island Historic Park Foundation president Ken Zadwick at the gate below the cemetery.
From there, the group will go to the cemetery, and cleanup will begin after a brief tailgate meeting regarding safety and the importance of staying in the area.
"The city certainly appreciates the efforts of this dedicated group of individuals," said City Manager Roger Kemp. "Mare Island is an important part of the city of Vallejo's history, and the cemetery in particular holds an important place in that history as well."
The motorcycle club plans to make the cleanup of the cemetery a monthly event and has selected dates through August for the effort. More information on the group and future cleanup dates can be found at www.powmiariders.com.
Some notable people buried in the cemetery:
- Anna Key Turner, the daughter of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star-spangled Banner, is buried in a white, picket-fenced military cemetery on the slopes of the Island's highest point on the southern end of the Island.
- William Halford - Congressional Medal of Honor winner from the Saginaw, the first vessel of the "long line of ships" built by the Mare Island Navy Yard. Halford was sole survivor of the boat's crew sent to the Sandwich Islands for assistance after the wreck of the Saginaw, October 1870.
- James Cooney - Congressional Medal of Honor winner, who in the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, in 1900, distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
- Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans are also buried there, as well as Danish, French and Russian sailors who died while their ships were at Mare Island for repairs.
To get to the cemetery, enter Mare Island Shipyard from Tennessee Street. Cross the Mare Island Causeway. Turn left at Walnut Avenue and follow the street until you run into Azuar Drive. Turn left on Azuar Drive and follow the street until you reach the locked gate.
