Ceremony will kick off historical cemetery project

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

SIERRA VISTA — A ceremony to prepare a portion of the state-operated veterans cemetery to receive the remains of soldiers who died in the then Territory of Arizona in the late 1800s will be held Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly 70 sets of remains, many of them incomplete, will be reburied at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery next May, after being exhumed at a long-abandoned burial ground in Tucson, said cemetery administrator Joe Larson.

Initially, the remains of 10 individuals were expected when the project was started, before Larson became the administrator.

“Then the number grew to 30, and now it is between 60 and 70,” he said Monday.

The exhumation of the remains of the soldiers, most of whom died in the 1870s and 1880s, were required to make way for a major court complex for Pima County and Tucson. There were many other remains, of earlier settlers, Tucson residents and some American Indians found in the former cemetery in downtown Tucson.

Larson said the names of nearly 60 sets of remains have been connected to specific bones, but at least 10 sets, including two Indian scouts cannot be positively put to specific remains. Because what few remains are left cannot be tied to the scouts, they will not be returned to local tribes.

Although the names of the 10 are known but not tied to a specific set of remains, they will be buried as unknowns in individual graves, but a plaque with their names will be put up in the special section of the cemetery, he said.

Being called the Historic Soldiers Relocation Project, the cemetery administrator said the state and others in the Sierra Vista community have stepped up to accept the remains from what once was a part of the abandoned cemetery in Tucson set aside for military remains, mostly from the former Army post called Fort Lowell, Larson said.

Joe Smith of Palominas is making special small wooden caskets for the remains, and he is one of many local people involved in the special relocation project, the cemetery administrator said.

The short ceremony will begin with the consecration of the area by the Rev. Greg Adolf of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Sierra Vista.

Participating in the groundbreaking will be Gov. Janet Napolitano; Maj. Gen. John Custer, commander of Fort Huachuca and the Intelligence Center; Sierra Vista Mayor Bob Strain; Joey Strickland, director of the Arizona Department of Veterans Services; Larson; Larry McKim, president of the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery Foundation; Mike Rutherford, president of the Southeastern Arizona Contractors Association; Phil Vega, publisher of the Sierra Vista Herald and Bisbee Daily Review; and Boy Scout Jacob Lovorn.

The event, to which the public is invited to attend, begins at 3:15 p.m.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached by telephone at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.

[ASOC]

Cool beyond words. As a kid I used to play in the ruins of Ft Lowell.

The 5th Calvary (re-enactors) used to stage mock battles at the Fort for years until PC and cost drove them away.

I just hope the stench that follows Janet N around won't spoil what should be a solemn ceremony.

[ErnBatavia]

The exhumation of the remains of the soldiers, most of whom died in the 1870s and 1880s, were required to make way for a major court complex for Pima County and Tucson.

So much for the "final resting place" scenario...I lost my father a year ago, and one solace I have is that he's in a beautiful cemetery (we're talking community here...not Vets) and I'd really like to hope that ever-expanding southern California won't force some sort of relocation.

The Coachella Valley Cemetery is at what is now a pretty lazy and rural intersection.....but 10 years from now, that's gonna be some prime real estate!

[SandRat]

Check this out http://discoverseaz.com/History/B_Troop.html

[ASOC]

ANd so, history lives for us today sorta.

The coolest thing about the guys at Ft Lowell is they had a real live Mountain Gun - a breachloading cannon. Man would that ever make noise....

[TXnMA]

"...and Boy Scout Jacob Lovorn."

Makes this old Scouter wonder if this involved an Eagle Scout project -- that the media overlooked...

[SandRat]

Yes but it had been covered in earlier editions. Many Projects to better from several Troops and Eagle fledglings.

[SandRat]

Yes but it had been covered in earlier editions. Many Projects to better from several Troops and Eagle fledglings.