Just outside of Clovis California, the small town of Academy was once the home of a famous local school, commonly called "The Academy". All that remains now is the old Pioneer's Cemetery, a couple of farm houses, and a monument beside the highway which replaced the wooden 1850's town. The cemetery is very close to the part of Clovis where my father lived, and this is where he wanted to be buried.
I went out there yesterday to put in a few flags for Memorial Day, and pay my respects to the only guy I ever knew who served in three wars.
Most of the Year this is a dry land of scrub Oak and dry grass. This old oak by the entrance has managed to survive since the pioneer days.
The Pioneer Cemetery is in the foothills of a fairly Barren land. Except for 200 years of irrigation, the San Joaquin Valley would be basically a desert.
Instead we built hydroelectric dams to control the run-off, irrigated the place, and now it's America's fruit basket--producing more grapes, tree fruit, tree nuts, and Citrus than any place in the world.
But there's not much irrigation at the cemetery except for one hose bib where you can manage to get a rusty drink of water.
My dad loved to take us to the Arizona Ghost Towns in his old scout, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how odd (or appropriate) it was that he wanted to be buried in a ghost town.
There was a spanking breeze when when I got up to the cemetery. It was quite welcome as the temperature was already nearly 90°F.
I scrub the dirt off dad's Tombstone with a bottle of water and planted his flags. My sister will put up a third one on Memorial Day, one for each War in which he served.
it's a small place but there are many other Vets burried there. I started to choke up a little bit as I thought about who they all were and how they got here. Were there other three war heroes burried here? I started walking to find out.
First there were the Pioneer Graves. Many with fancy marble, cracked and damaged from 100 Years of weather and random miscreants.
Many of the names are familiar because they are the names of local streets and roads. They were the descendants, in a large part, of the local pioneers.
Benjamin Beard's trust in God carried him through 94 years on this earth.
I walked the entire Cemetery yesterday, plot By plot. I took photos of the interesting headstones from the past and also of all the GI headstones that lie in the Academy cemetery. I'm going to post them all up later.
There will be over 40 photos.
I know that's a lot. But These are the tombs of American Heroes, and as tombs go they're not much. A hunk of cast Bronze on a chunk of cast concrete, on plot of dead Desert earth, in the dead foothills, at the edge of America's greatest farm country.
A few of them, like my dad, served in more than one war.
This won't be much of a tribute All Things Considered but it's something, and perhaps it's even something of an honor.
Most of the folks in that Hallowed Ground couldn't imagine what we're doing with these photographs of their last resting places.
Please read the names.
These fellows haven't had roll call in a long time.
I went out there yesterday to put in a few flags for Memorial Day, and pay my respects to the only guy I ever knew who served in three wars.
Most of the Year this is a dry land of scrub Oak and dry grass. This old oak by the entrance has managed to survive since the pioneer days.
The Pioneer Cemetery is in the foothills of a fairly Barren land. Except for 200 years of irrigation, the San Joaquin Valley would be basically a desert.
Instead we built hydroelectric dams to control the run-off, irrigated the place, and now it's America's fruit basket--producing more grapes, tree fruit, tree nuts, and Citrus than any place in the world.
But there's not much irrigation at the cemetery except for one hose bib where you can manage to get a rusty drink of water.
My dad loved to take us to the Arizona Ghost Towns in his old scout, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how odd (or appropriate) it was that he wanted to be buried in a ghost town.
There was a spanking breeze when when I got up to the cemetery. It was quite welcome as the temperature was already nearly 90°F.
I scrub the dirt off dad's Tombstone with a bottle of water and planted his flags. My sister will put up a third one on Memorial Day, one for each War in which he served.
it's a small place but there are many other Vets burried there. I started to choke up a little bit as I thought about who they all were and how they got here. Were there other three war heroes burried here? I started walking to find out.
First there were the Pioneer Graves. Many with fancy marble, cracked and damaged from 100 Years of weather and random miscreants.
Many of the names are familiar because they are the names of local streets and roads. They were the descendants, in a large part, of the local pioneers.
Benjamin Beard's trust in God carried him through 94 years on this earth.
I walked the entire Cemetery yesterday, plot By plot. I took photos of the interesting headstones from the past and also of all the GI headstones that lie in the Academy cemetery. I'm going to post them all up later.
There will be over 40 photos.
I know that's a lot. But These are the tombs of American Heroes, and as tombs go they're not much. A hunk of cast Bronze on a chunk of cast concrete, on plot of dead Desert earth, in the dead foothills, at the edge of America's greatest farm country.
A few of them, like my dad, served in more than one war.
This won't be much of a tribute All Things Considered but it's something, and perhaps it's even something of an honor.
Most of the folks in that Hallowed Ground couldn't imagine what we're doing with these photographs of their last resting places.
Please read the names.
These fellows haven't had roll call in a long time.
