The last stop

I've driven past here many times but I never have stopped before. I always said that I needed to check this out. Ft. Richardson National Cemetery is located on the backside of Fort Richardson next to Camp Carroll. Access is available for anyone to visit but you must sign in at the Ft. Richardson main gate.

It hadn't been a very busy place until the Iraq War started. Since it opened as a temporary cemetery during WWII, there are over 4,500 people interned through the end of 2006.

Initially, any deceased soldier who died in Alaska during WWII, regardless of nationality could be interred there. Two sections were confined for Japanese soldiers killed in the Aleutians, along with Russians and Canadians. In December 1946, the temporary cemetery at Fort Richardson was made a permanent site.

The remains of Allied soldiers were buried within a fenced area referred to as the “Allied Plot.” Japanese soldiers who died in battles for the Aleutian Islands were buried outside the fence in an area designated as the “Enemy Plot.” In July 1953, the 235 Japanese war dead buried at Fort Richardson were disinterred for proper cremation with appropriate Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies, under the supervision of the Japanese Embassy. In May 1981, a group of Japanese citizens in Anchorage had a new marker made to remember the soldiers who, in death, remain far from home.

There is also a memorial section for those whose remains were lost at sea or are not recoverable.

It was a very tranquil place the day I visited. It was -5°f and maybe that had a little to do with it. But there were recently placed flowers and other recent signs of respect. To me it seems like the most appropriate place to be buried after making the final sacrafice. On a lot of the headstones there are insignias of many different religous faiths. So I guess this is holy ground, no matter what faith you believe in.