Dead grass covers large sections of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

Veterans cemetery's unsightly grounds don't meet 'shrine standards'
LA Times
By Tony Perry
June 22, 2013

Dead grass covers large sections of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma.
(San Diego Union-Tribune / June22, 2013)

SAN DIEGO -- For more than a century, the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma has been the final resting spot for many of the nation's military veterans.

The lush and well-tended grounds bespeak the honor and respect that the nation owes its veterans, many of whom fell in battle.

But for months, the cemetery has had large unsightly patches of dead or dying grass amid the 77 acres of graves.

A series of problems have caused large areas to be left with grass that is brown and wilting and altogether unsightly. In some areas, the problem is a broken irrigation system, in others the grass was intentionally killed to allow for a grave realignment.

"We're sincerely apologetic for any discomfort we've caused the families," said Bradley Phillips, an executive director for memorial services at the Department of Veterans Affairs. "We're working very hard to bring the cemetery up to shrine standards."

Some of the areas will be green again by August, but others will take months, he said.

The apparent slowness of the repairs has upset some family members, like Jill Millard, whose son, 22-year-old Army Cpl. Gregory Millard, was killed in Iraq in 2007.
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