Fort Richardson National Cemetery

Fort Richardson National Cemetery is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its association with the development of World War II-era national cemeteries. Created in 1942, Fort Richardson National Cemetery originally served as a post cemetery and a resting place for American, Canadian, Soviet, and Japanese troops during World War II. The cemetery is of national significance.

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History of Fort Richardson National Cemetery

The U.S. Army in Alaska from 1867 to 1939

Since the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, the U.S. Army has maintained a presence in the territory. After the purchase, Brevet Major General Jefferson C. Davis was named the first commander of the military district of Alaska and served in Sitka from 1867 to 1870. After the U.S. Army withdrew from Alaska in 1877 because of the high cost of maintaining a garrison, the Army continued to operate weather stations and aided in the development of Alaska's transportation and communication infrastructure. For example, in the 1890s, Brigadier General Adolphus Washington Greely oversaw the construction of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System. Later, Brigadier General Wilds P. Richardson headed the War Department's Alaska Road Commission from 1905-1917 and supervised the construction of Fort Egbert, near the town of Eagle, and Fort William H. Seward, as well as many of Alaska's highways. 3 While the United States maintained several military installations and governmental offices in Alaska, the only national cemetery was located in Sitka, the former capital.

Temporary Interment Facility at Fort Richardson

In the late 1930s, the U.S. Army focused on the construction of bases in territories, including Alaska and Puerto Rico, where no Regular Army forces had been stationed.* On April 29, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8102, which established Fort Richardson and named it in honor of Brigadier General Richardson, who served three tours of duty in the Alaska territory between 1897 and 1917. Unlike most of the World War II-era posts in the United States, Fort Richardson contained many permanent features, including an airbase named Elmendorf Field, a supply depot, and a ground garrison for the defense of southern Alaska. The base was to serve as the citadel for the defense of the territory from any Japanese invasion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the first cantonment area during 1940-1941 on the site of present-day Elmendorf Air Force Base. The construction program was initiated on June 8, 1940, by the Army Construction Quartermaster Corps and was transferred to the Corps of Engineers in January 1941. By December 7, 1941, the Army had approximately 8,000 military personnel stationed at the post.

As with most military posts, one of the service and support needs for the installation was a post cemetery. From the earliest days of the U.S. Army, the Quartermaster Corps was responsible for the construction and maintenance of military posts; this included the establishment of burial grounds. What emerged was a uniform system for burying, marking, and recording graves in the frontier posts. After the Civil War, the U.S. Army began the process of creating large national cemeteries as final resting places for the Union dead; many military installations continued to maintain their post-cemeteries. By General Orders No. 45, Headquarters of the Army, series of 1868, commanding officers of posts were charged with the establishment and maintenance of post cemeteries."

At Fort Richardson, the U.S. Army set aside approximately 39 acres, located just north of the Davis Highway, for a post cemetery. The site was far from the cantonment, but it was located on the major transportation route that connected Anchorage, Fort Richardson, and Palmer, making it easier for the Army to access the cemetery from several locations. Fort Richardson was the only permanent military installation in this area to have a cemetery. Initially, it was only meant to be a temporary one to hold the remains of any soldier who died in Alaska, regardless of nationality, until next-of-kin was located or the soldier's government asked for the return of the remains. The first burial of a service member occurred on January 10, 1942.

As the Army established the Fort Richardson post cemetery, other events were unfolding in Alaska that would change the landscape of the cemetery. In the spring of 1942, the Japanese seized the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. Because these were U.S. territories, the government attempted to keep the information quiet and began plans to reclaim the islands. In May 1943, the U.S. Army attacked at Attu. Because of several logistical and command problems, the United States suffered high casualties but recaptured the island. Several months later, the Americans captured Kiska."

Because of the nature of the fighting in the Aleutians, the U.S. Army handled not just American casualties but also those of Allied and enemy forces. Thus, the Army established two sections at the post cemetery separate from those for U.S. forces. The American burials occurred in a 2-acre wood-fenced plot that consisted of four sections. The Japanese and Allied burials occurred in two sections, located outside the fenced area to the east."

The Allied section contains the remains of Canadian and Soviet pilots. During the Aleutian Island campaign, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) No. 8 (Bomber Reconnaissance), No. 111 (Fighter), and No. 14 (Fighter) squadrons all operated out of Anchorage and other bases to support the Americans and the over 5,000 Canadians who invaded Attu and Kiska. Twelve RCAF airmen were buried at Fort Richardson's cemetery." Eleven of the Canadians are in the Allied section, and one is in Section A.

In addition to the Canadians, 14 Russians are interred at Fort Richardson. As part of the Lend-Lease program, several hundred Soviet pilots and 17 interpreters were stationed at Ladd Field in Fairbanks. American pilots, many of them women, would ferry American-built B-25s, A-20s, C-47s, P-38s, and other aircraft from American factories in the lower 48 states to Fairbanks.
From Fairbanks, Soviet pilots would fly the planes to Nome to refuel, and then into Siberia and finally Moscow. The route was safer for the Allies than moving equipment across the Atlantic. 13 During the missions, several Soviet personnel died, and they were buried at the post cemetery at Fort Richardson. The Soviets are buried in the Allied section.

After the Aleutian Island campaign, the Army buried the remains of a large number of Japanese soldiers at Fort Richardson. These men were buried outside the fence in the Japanese section. The development of that section is discussed later.

The main section of the cemetery is the final resting place of American soldiers, airmen, and sailors. Among the notable burials is that of Major Kermit Roosevelt, Headquarters, Alaskan Defense Command, who died on June 4, 1943, and was interred in the Fort Richardson cemetery on June 8, 1943, in Grave 22, Section A. Kermit was the son of Theodore Roosevelt and served in both the U.S. and British armies during World War I and II.

On August 22, 1917, Kermit was appointed an honorary captain in the British Army and saw action in the Near East before transferring to the U.S. Army. In the British Army, he served in present-day Iraq; he mastered spoken as well as written Arabic and served as a translator with the locals. Because of his courage, Kermit was awarded a Military Cross on August 26, 1918. After the war, he was active in several businesses. As war erupted once again in Europe in 1939, Roosevelt received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment. He served in Finland and Norway before returning to England and being discharged from the army on health grounds on May 2, 1941.

Roosevelt soon returned to the United States, and through the assistance of his family, he received a commission as a major in the U.S. Army and transferred to Alaska as an intelligence officer. However, his drinking and depression soon took a toll, and he committed suicide, though official reports at the time listed the cause of death as a heart attack.

Formalization of the Fort Richardson Post Cemetery

After World War II, the U.S. military established a permanent presence in Alaska. From 1940 to 1950, the U.S. government expanded Fort Richardson to 62,450 acres. In 1950, the Department of Defense split Fort Richardson into Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson. Elmendorf contained the original cantonment for the World War II-era base, and Fort Richardson was all new construction. When the new cantonment was completed in 1955, the new post was the largest Army base in Alaska and became home to elements of the 2nd Infantry Division and several anti-aircraft defense batteries. The 71st Infantry Division had been stationed at Fort Richardson but was rotated to Fort Leis and deactivated.

While the U.S. Army was expanding the fort, it was also planning to remove the burials at the post cemetery and send them south to the states. However, in 1947, Belle Roosevelt, widow of Kermit Roosevelt, wrote General Dwight Eisenhower, then Army Chief of Staff, and stated that she wanted her husband to remain at Fort Richardson. Eisenhower ordered the remains to stay in place and made the temporary cemetery a permanent army post cemetery."

The program for the repatriation of World War II dead was set up by Public Law 383, 79th Congress, and Public Law 368, 80th Congress. Congress had decided that next-of-kin would decide if they wanted their relatives to remain interred in a permanent military cemetery overseas, in a private cemetery overseas, in a national cemetery in the United States, or in a private cemetery in the United States. In the Alaskan Theatre, the final interment of remains was done at either Fort Richardson Post Cemetery or Sitka National Cemetery. The remains of 27 American dead arrived at Fort Richardson and were interred on August 22, 1948.

On July 30, 1949, Mrs. Roosevelt again wrote General George C. Marshall, asking for permission to erect a memorial to Kermit at the fort. Marshall envisioned a gateway and stone fence that would later be expanded by the Army and encircle the entire cemetery. Marshall asked the Quartermaster General, who was responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of post cemeteries, for his opinion. In 1951, Mrs. Roosevelt funded the construction of the two entrance posts in honor of her husband, and a dedicatory granite tablet was installed on one.

In 1953, a British Army physician who died in a plane crash in Alaska was interred at the cemetery. This was the last burial of a foreign national at the cemetery.

Japanese Reburial at Fort Richardson, 1953

In the summer of 1953, the Japanese government requested that the Japanese dead at Fort Richardson Post Cemetery be disinterred so that they could be cremated in Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. Shigeru Inada, third secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Washington, supervised the cremation ritual. After the cremation, the U.S. Army reinterred the remains on July 13, 1953. The Japanese had 18 identified and 217 unidentified soldiers buried in the cemetery.

In July 1964, a group of 18 Japanese citizens visited the Fort Richardson cemetery. Included in the group were three religious leaders, the Reverend Hoin Yamada, Ken Adachi, and Cyoin Hashimoto. Hashimoto, chairman of the Japanese Buddhist Cultural Association, presided over a special ceremony at the gravesite, with prayers, singing, and meditation. One of the pilgrims who attended was Kuneo Sato, one of the 27 survivors of the battle for Attu Island. Holy water, wreaths, and flowers from Japan were placed on the American graves, and the group placed a tall, four-sided wooden monument on the Japanese burial plot. In May 1981, a group of Japanese civilians in Anchorage had a new monument made in Japan and sent to Alaska, to replace the then-dilapidated original. 23 The monument was replaced again in 2002 and will continue to be replaced in the future according to Japanese custom.

Establishment of Fort Richardson National Cemetery

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Fort Richardson Post Cemetery remained active and received dead from the Vietnam War.

In 1972, the Alaska state legislature passed House Joint Resolution No. 124, asking the Federal government to designate the Fort Richardson post cemetery as a national cemetery. The City of Anchorage and the Greater Anchorage Area both supported the resolution. At the time, Sitka National Cemetery was the only national cemetery in the state, and it was not conveniently located for the majority of Alaskan veterans. Local political leaders argued that approximately 70 percent of the state's veterans lived in the Greater Anchorage area.

At first, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Alaska (USARAL) did not support the bill, because the Veterans Administration (which became the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989) was in the process of taking over the national cemetery system from the Army; post cemeteries, along with Arlington National Cemetery and Soldier' Home National Cemetery were to remain under Army control. However, after the transfer occurred in 1973, USARAL requested that the Fort Richardson Post Cemetery be redesignated as a national cemetery.

In March 1975, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) sent a message to the Fort Richardson garrison directing the preparation of a Report of Excess for the post cemetery and 200 contiguous acres. The FORSCOM request was a result of proposed legislation by Senator Ted Stevens, Senate Bill 614 (1975), which would direct the VA to establish a national cemetery at Fort Richardson. No further action was taken until April 1980, when the Department of the Army recommended reducing the contiguous area from 200 acres to 20 acres.

The next year, the creation of the national cemetery faced another obstacle. According to Section 1425(b)(2) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), PL96-487, when these lands were reported excess, they were to be conveyed to the Eklutna Native Corporation. The Corps of Engineers recommended that the VA initiate legislation to amend PL96-487 to allow a direct transfer of land from the Army to the VA. In 1982 and 1983, the Army went through negotiations with the native tribes and the environmental process to excess the land to the VA, and the Eklutna agreed to the transfer. Finally, Public Land Order No. 6534 transferred 39.01 acres of land from the Department of the Army to the VA for its 109th national cemetery. While it transferred the land, the U.S. Army agreed to support the VA by providing administrative space; opening and closing of gravesites; setting of headstones; cutting grass and trimming around headstones; general maintenance of burial areas, removal of flowers, etc.; and snow removal.

On May 28, 1984, the VA took control of what was designated Fort Richardson National Cemetery, and 172nd Infantry Brigade Commander Brigadier General Gerald Bethke handed over the cemetery to Bill Crosby, the cemetery's first director. At the time of the transfer, all but 700 of the 2,000 gravesites had been used or reserved.

Since the transfer, unused land has been built out to accommodate additional burials and several new administrative/service buildings have been constructed at the cemetery to support operations. Long-range plans anticipate the expansion of burial sections within the cemetery on undeveloped land to the west.

Among the more recent burials at the Cemetery is that of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sergeant James Leroy Bondsteel, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. S/Sgt. Bondsteel distinguished himself while serving as a platoon sergeant, near the village of Lang Sau, An Loc Province, Republic of Vietnam, on May 24, 1969. Company A was directed to assist a friendly unit that was endangered by intense fire from a North Vietnamese Battalion located in a heavily fortified base camp. S/Sgt. Bondsteel quickly organized the men of his platoon into effective combat teams and spearheaded the attack by destroying four enemy-occupied bunkers. He then raced some 200 meters under heavy enemy fire to reach an adjoining platoon which had begun to falter. After rallying this unit and assisting their wounded, S/Sgt. Bondsteel returned to his own sector with critically needed munitions. Without pausing he moved to the forefront and destroyed four enemy-occupied bunkers and a machine gun that had threatened his advancing platoon. Although painfully wounded by an enemy grenade, S/Sgt. Bondsteel refused medical attention and continued his assault by neutralizing two more enemy bunkers nearby. He continued to rally his men and led them through the entrenched enemy until his company was relieved. His exemplary leadership and great personal courage throughout the four-hour battle ensured the success of his own and nearby units and resulted in the saving of numerous lives of his fellow soldiers. He died on April 9, 1987, and is buried in Section H, Grave 19.

Summary

Over 5,000 military men and women, and their eligible spouses and dependents are buried in Fort Richardson National Cemetery, as of July 2011. The U.S. flag flies daily over the orderly rows of white marble headstones in honor of the lives and deeds of those who answered the call of duty. Set against the serene backdrop of evergreen trees and mountains, Fort Richardson National Cemetery reflects the U.S. military presence in Alaska during World War II and the lives of those willing to serve and protect their country in times of war and peace. The cemetery is maintained and preserved as a final resting place and memorial to U.S. military personnel.