Memorial Day services were held Monday morning at Mare Island in Vallejo, at the site of the oldest Naval cemetery on the West Coast. The site is being restored for the first time since 1856, where Memorial Day ceremonies have been held at the grave site for 164 years. This year, sitting or standing six feet apart and wearing face masks, citizens and members of the military past and present listened to a speech by US Navy Captain Rich Wiley
“On this day we not only commemorate, we celebrate, we commemorate from many places: from Arlington, to Gettysburg, and Mare Island” said Wiley in his remarks, “those that paid the ultimate sacrifice and where they did it, and how they did it - we celebrate today not how they died, but how they lived.”
At the Mare Island Naval Cemetery, gravestones are being restored and the grounds refurbished, as well as fences being rebuilt.
“This entire area is being refurbished to bring back the historical perspective, but more importantly, to honor those that served our country,” said Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan.
Among those buried at the cemetery, the daughter of Francis Scott Key, the author of the country’s national anthem.
