Golden Gate National Cemetery
Main gate in 2008
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1937 |
| Location | 1300 Sneath Lane San Bruno, California |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 37°38′07″N 122°25′52″W / 37.63528°N 122.43111°WCoordinates: 37°38′07″N 122°25′52″W / 37.63528°N 122.43111°W |
| Type | United States National Cemetery |
| Size | 161.5 acres (0.654 km2) |
| No. of graves | 145,000 |
| Website | US Dept of Veterans Affairs Golden Gate National Cemetery |
| Find a Grave | Golden Gate National Cemetery |
Golden Gate National Cemetery is an United States national cemetery in California, located in the city of San Bruno, 12 miles (20 km) south of San Francisco. Because of the name and location, it is frequently confused with San Francisco National Cemetery, which dates to the 19th century and is in the Presidio of San Francisco, in view of the Golden Gate. Around 1937, San Francisco residents voted to bar the opening of new cemeteries within the city proper and, as a result, the site for the new national cemetery was selected south of the city limits in adjacent San Mateo County.
Congress authorized construction of the facility in 1937, with the first interments in 1941. The cemetery was officially dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1942. California Attorney General Earl Warren (later Governor, then Chief Justice of the United States) was keynote speaker at the ceremony. Golden Gate is one of a large number of U.S. Army-planned cemeteries started in the 1930s and completed during the 1940s. They were designed specifically to provide abundant burial opportunities in locations around the nation in cities with very large veteran populations.
As of 2005, the cemetery held 137,435 interments. Over the years, several attempts to expand Golden Gate National Cemetery were met with resistance from local residents, so it has remained at its original 161.5 acres (0.654 km2) since 1941.
Ironically, a number of service members who are buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery were interned in the stables at the nearby Tanforan Racetrack during the early part of the Japanese American internment.
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Wikipedia