Shane361
Well-Known Member
Regardless of where the President will be Memorial day I will be INCREDIBLY greatful for those who stood the wall before me, those standing with me now and those to come. Some paid the ultimate price and for that I will always be in debt. :usa:
Little history...A burial ground before 1847, this graveyard became an Army Post cemetery in the 1860s. It is the final resting place for most who fell at San Pasqual in 1846, and for the USS Bennington victims of 1905. At one time, it had become known as "Bennington National Cemetery". It became Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in 1934 and was placed under the Veterans Administration National Cemetery System in 1973. This cemetery is also a California registered historical landmark, #55, first registered on December 6, 1932.
Jeffrey T. Naas wrote a Memorial Day poem to honor those buried at Fort Rosecrans entitled, "On Rosecrans Hill".
On Rosecrans hill the grasses grow
Between the headstones row on row
That mark our place as in the sky
The gulls, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard against the surf below
We are the dead. Not long ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunsets glow
We chose for freedom's cause to die
And now upon this hill we lie
As grasses green above us grow
We knew the price we had to pay
To keep the enemy at bay
We gave our all, we fought the fight
To keep aglow sweet freedom's light
Remember this, we ask today
One thing we ask of those not slain
Will you fight on for freedom's reign?
If war returns, as it well might
Will you take up the gallant fight?
Yes, answer us! You who remain
And so we lie here, asking still
If you, our sons, will have the will
To sacrifice as we did then
That your sons, too, may live free men
As we wait still, on Rosecrans hill
Little history...A burial ground before 1847, this graveyard became an Army Post cemetery in the 1860s. It is the final resting place for most who fell at San Pasqual in 1846, and for the USS Bennington victims of 1905. At one time, it had become known as "Bennington National Cemetery". It became Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in 1934 and was placed under the Veterans Administration National Cemetery System in 1973. This cemetery is also a California registered historical landmark, #55, first registered on December 6, 1932.
Jeffrey T. Naas wrote a Memorial Day poem to honor those buried at Fort Rosecrans entitled, "On Rosecrans Hill".
On Rosecrans hill the grasses grow
Between the headstones row on row
That mark our place as in the sky
The gulls, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard against the surf below
We are the dead. Not long ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunsets glow
We chose for freedom's cause to die
And now upon this hill we lie
As grasses green above us grow
We knew the price we had to pay
To keep the enemy at bay
We gave our all, we fought the fight
To keep aglow sweet freedom's light
Remember this, we ask today
One thing we ask of those not slain
Will you fight on for freedom's reign?
If war returns, as it well might
Will you take up the gallant fight?
Yes, answer us! You who remain
And so we lie here, asking still
If you, our sons, will have the will
To sacrifice as we did then
That your sons, too, may live free men
As we wait still, on Rosecrans hill