Place:San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States

Hours: Cemetery office (located at Golden Gate National Cemetery) 8:00am-4:30pm Monday-Friday; cemetery itself is open daily 7:00am-5:00pm

Location

1 Lincoln Blvd., Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129
Phone: (650) 589-7737 or 1646
FAX: (650) 873- 6578

History

On Dec. 12, 1884, the War Department designated nine acres, including the site of the old post cemetery, as San Francisco National Cemetery. It was the first national cemetery established on the West Coast and, as such, marks the growth and development of a system of national cemeteries extending beyond the battlefields of the Civil War. Initial interments included the remains of the dead from the former post cemetery as well as individuals removed from cemeteries at abandoned forts and camps elsewhere along the Pacific coast and western frontier. In 1934, all unknown remains in the cemetery were disinterred and reinterred in one plot. Many soldiers and sailors who died overseas serving in the Philippines, China and other areas of the Pacific Theater are interred in San Francisco National Cemetery.

The cemetery is enclosed with a stone wall and slopes down a hill that today frames a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Its original ornamental cast-iron entrance gates are present but have been unused since the entrance was relocated. Tall eucalyptus trees further enclose the cemetery. The lodge and rostrum date to the 1920s and reflect the Spanish Revival styling introduced to several western cemeteries.

(Source: San Francisco National Cemetery website)

Resources

• San Francisco National Cemetery website (includes an extensive history of U.S. military operations in the area)
• Find A Grave: San Francisco National Cemetery
• Interment.net: San Francisco National Cemetery
• US Department of Veterans Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator