HEROES AT REST; L.A. CEMETERY HOLDS THOUSANDS OF VETERANS.Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer Most of the year, this peaceful oasis of green located between a loud freeway and towering skyscrapers is a very quiet place. The caretakers and maintenance men spend their days mowing mow 1 n. 1. The place in a barn where hay, grain, or other feed is stored. 2. A stack of hay or other feed stored in a barn. lawns, trimming trees and clearing debris from the 83,000 or so headstones. It is a resting place. But this weekend, thousands will converge on the Los Angeles National Cemetery The Los Angeles National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in West Los Angeles, at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard. The cemetery was dedicated in 1889. to pay their respects to veteran relatives. Others will come to remember a relative in a veterans cemetery far away. Others will come to remember old friends. On Saturday, more than 2,000 Girl Scouts Girl Scouts, recreational and service organization founded (1912) in Savannah, Ga., by Mrs. Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927). It was originally modeled after the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, organizations created in Great Britain by Sir Robert Baden-Powell during , Boy Scouts and Brownies gathered there to decorate each grave with an American flag in preparation for Monday's Memorial Day ceremonies, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Memorial Day holiday is for many people no more than a three-day weekend - three days for picnics and parties. But for Jim Dittmar, who cares for the cemetery; Lucy Devenney, who manages it; and many veterans, Memorial Day is about the people who fought in our wars. It is about the men and women buried in the soil of this cemetery and the other 114 national cemeteries across the country. Since 1981, Dittmar has been a caretaker here. He knows the cemetery better than anyone else who works here, though he readily admits there's much he doesn't know. Dittmar, who served eight tours in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. in the special forces, knows where all the Congressional Medal of Honor Congressional Medal of Honor n. The highest U.S. military decoration, awarded in the name of Congress to members of the armed forces for gallantry and bravery beyond the call of duty in action against an enemy. Noun 1. soldiers are buried. And he knows what many of them did to earn the medal. He knows the meaning of all the religious symbols on the tombstones tombstones a cellular phenomenon in pemphigus vulgaris; rows of basal cells of the epidermis remain attached to the basal membrane, reminiscent of rows of tombstones. . He knows mountain man Jeremiah Johnson was once buried here, and that Wyatt Earp's father still is. He also knows Abner Prather was the first man to be buried in the cemetery. Unfortunately, not much more is known about Prather, as records were not kept as well as they are in the computer age. He also knows that every year tourists come to the cemetery wanting to know where Marilyn Monroe is buried, confusing it for a private cemetery in Westwood, where the legendary actress rests. Old medicine bottles and other things unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. when graves are dug lead Dittmar to believe the property was once used as a landfill. Thousands paying tribute And he knows that this weekend, thousands will make the trip across the country to pay tribute to a fallen family member or a veteran acquaintance buried here. On this Memorial Day weekend, like every other year, flags will adorn each grave. A play will be performed by the Ventura West Theatre Company. Flowers will be placed on stones. And words will be softly spoken. And then the cemetery will grow quiet again, Dittmar said, with only a handful of daily visits. Started in 1889 Los Angeles National Cemetery was started on 20 acres of land in Westwood in 1889 as part of the National Cemetery System, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Devenney. In 1976, it reached capacity and now only receives spouses of veterans buried there and scatters cremated remains. It was President Lincoln who signed into law the legislation authorizing the establishment of national cemeteries, ``for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.'' Fourteen national cemeteries were established when the law took effect. After the Civil War, search and recovery teams went into the battlefields, churchyards, plantations and other makeshift cemeteries and transferred the bodies of soldiers killed during war. By 1870, nearly 300,000 Civil War dead were buried in 73 national cemeteries. Today, there are 114 national cemeteries under the Department of Veteran Affairs' jurisdiction. That doesn't include Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery, 420 acres (170 hectares), N Va., across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.; est. 1864. More than 60,000 American war dead, as well as notables including Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, Gen. John J. , which is operated by the Department of the Army. A burial and headstone is one of the ways the government pays back a veteran for his service, Dittmar explained. And it's a good thing, because there wouldn't be room for them in private cemeteries. ``For as many people that served or have been killed in wars, we'd have run out of space.'' CAPTION(S): 9 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Ella Lee of Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. visits the burial plot of her husband, Merel, a World War II veteran, at Los Angeles National Cemetery. (2--Color--Ran in Valley Edition only) Alan Ning, 11, of Boy Scout Troop No. 22 in Woodland Hills decorates veterans' graves with flags Saturday. (3--Ran in Valley Edition only) Boy Scouts place American flags on the graves of veterans buried at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood on Saturday. Memorial Day services will be held Monday. (4--Ran in Valley Edition only) Boy Scout Josh Newborn, 13, carries an armful of flags while decorating graves at the cemetery. (5--Color in Bulldog Edition Bulldog edition refers to an earlier edition of a newspaper or other print publications. For instance, the Sunday New York Times publishes its bulldog edition, about 100,000 copies, for distribution around the country, at about noon on Saturday. only) Left, Abner Prather, the first veteran buried at the cemetery, fought in the Mexican-American War The Mexican-American War[1] was an armed military conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico did not recognize the secession of Texas in 1836; it considered Texas a rebel province. and died in 1889. (6) Above, adjacent office buildings tower over the cemetery, which reached its capacity in 1976. Today, the cemetery only accepts the spouses of already interred veterans. (7--Ran in Bulldog Edition only) Caretaker James Dittmar mows the lawn at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood. He is one of 10 caretakers at the site, which holds roughly 83,000 headstones. (8--Ran in Bulldog Edition only) A stone arch frames the entrance to the cemetery's columbarium, which holds cremated remains. (9--Ran in Bulldog Edition only) Left, Vietnam veteran This article is about veterans of the Vietnam War. For the French psychedelic musical group, see Vietnam Veterans. Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. Ron Welter strolls past flags at the Westwood site. Michael Owen
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