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Angel Island Graves at the Golden Gate National Cemetery © 04/24/04; Rev. 01/12/07
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Right: Section E. Click on the images for larger pictures
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Right: The site of the Angel Island Post Cemetery in 2006 |
| Among the over 137,000 burials in the
Golden
Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California, are the remains of
142 individuals who were once interred on the San Francisco Bay's Angel
Island. Between 1863 and 1947 Angel Island was an active US Army
post and during this time a small cemetery on the west side of the island
received the remains of the military and civilian personnel who lived and
died on Angel Island as well as the military fortress/prison on nearby
Alcatraz Island, which was too small and rocky to have its own burial ground..
When the army closed its base on Angel Island after World War II the graves were moved to the Golden Gate Cemetery. Dedicated in 1942, the vast bulk of the graves in this cemetery date from WWII and later. Those visitors to Golden Gate who find the old Angel Island headstones, literally tucked away in a corner of the grounds, probably do not understand who the graves' occupants were and how their remains ended up there. Likewise, most visitors to Angel Island State Park and Alcatraz National Park will not learn that quite a few of the posts' residents were interred on Angel Island and later moved. A study of the Angel Island graves reveals a great deal about the garrisons of these two island outposts during the late 1800's and early 1900's. Mostly those of ordinary soldiers and civilian employees of the federal government, along with their families and a few military convicts and Indian War prisoners, the Angel Island burials represent a cross section of military life in the United State's frontier and expansionist periods. Note: From time to time I receive requests for photographs of graves at the GGNC besides those moved from Angel Island. While working on this Angel Island graves project I have become rather familiar with the layout of the San Bruno national cemetery. If you are looking for a photograph of one of these non-Angel Island graves, e-mail me with the name on the grave and I will try and snap a digital photo for you when my schedule allows. |
| The information here was compiled in
April of 2004 from the U.S.
Department of Veteran's Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator, U.S.
Department of Veteran's Affairs Database, and unit records from the
THE
ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1896.
I have taken as much care as possible to ensure that the information given is accurate, and have provided all information where the sources listed conflict. If you have any corrections or additional information for any of the individuals named here, e-mail me and I will add it to the pages. The individual records are indexed as follows (click on the links to view): - Alphabetically (Surnames
A-L & Surnames
M-Z)
Other information compiled here (click on links to view): - Demographic
statistics
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