by Bill Maddick
VETERAN ’ S CORNER
Memorial Day at Fort Logan National Cemetery
By the 1880s , the development of the railroads had rendered the concept of “ wild west ” forts obsolete since troops could be shuttled across long distances fairly quickly . The expense of maintaining them thus became prohibitive . Nonetheless , the citizens of Denver , feeling isolated and threatened by east coast immigration , petitioned the U . S . Army to build an outpost near the city . So Colorado senator Henry Teller introduced a bill in Congress in 1886 to establish such an outpost . The bill was signed the following year , the fort was then occupied originally by members of the 18th Infantry from Fort Hays and Leavenworth , and the first recorded burial was on June 28 , 1889--Mable Perkin , the daughter of a certain Private Perkin .
It is also probably fitting that the man who Fort Logan National Cemetery was named after , General John A . Logan , is the man who established the forerunner of our current Memorial Day holiday . As a general and as the commander of volunteer forces for the Union during the Civil War , he became the head of the Grand Army of the Republic ’ s post-war veteran organization . In that capacity , he issued General Orders No . 11 , establishing May 30th as “ Decoration Day ,” to honor the Civil War dead , which later became a our national holiday called Memorial Day .
Though 340 acres of land was added in 1908 , Fort Logan was reduced to being a recruiting depot by 1909 . Referred to as “ Fort Forgotten ,” it did see a resurgence of activity during the WWII years , but was then closed in May of 1946 . In 1960 , most of the land was deeded to the State of Colorado to establish a state hospital ( still known as the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan ). Then on March 10 , 1950 , Congress authorized the use of military lands at Fort Logan as a national cemetery , but limited the size to no more than 160 acres ( since then , the cemetery has expanded to 214 acres ). Now a part of the VA ’ s National Cemetery Administration , which maintains 134 national cemeteries in 40 states and Puerto Rico , it currently contains 122,000 graves from 1889 to the present .
So the reason this history is included here is that it now comes to pass that Fort Logan holds one of the most impressive and patriotic Memorial Day celebrations to be found anywhere .
It is estimated that 3500 people will attend , there are guest speakers ( Governor Hickenlooper spoke last year ), prayers , condolences , a flyover , salutes to the fallen , bagpipes , commendations , a three gun salute , doves released , etc . And as a commendation to all the services , each respective song of each service is played by the band ( including the Merchant Marine ), while the veterans of that branch stand and are recognized . The ceremony is situated on a lake overlook , facing west at the main flag staff , which provides a very scenic backdrop for the event . And this year , the ceremony will be on Memorial Day itself , Monday ,
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May 30th at 1100 hours .
I reached out to O ’ neal Hughes , retired Air Force and currently a Staff Assistant at the cemetery , for more details . In particular I ’ ve always been curious as to how a flyover gets arranged . O ’ neal informs that it starts with submitting a flyover request to the Department of Defense . In turn , they check with the Federal Aviation Administration to be sure that the flyover wouldn ’ t conflict with commercial air traffic or cause any other safety issues . If not , and The FAA gives their “ OK ,” the request goes back to the DOD to be scheduled , whereupon they have to find a unit who can accommodate the request without compromising the mission of the command . Then , if all of these criteria are met , the petitioner is informed whether a request is approved or denied . This year the flyover will be performed by the National Guard 160th Fighter Wing out of Buckley Air Force Base ( which does not have any active duty Air Force fighter wings ).
Another impressive thing the cemetery does for Memorial Day is that they place an American Flag on every single grave site . It is quite a stunning visual to behold and is enough to make a patriot even out of someone as calloused as Benedict Arnold . But with 122,000 graves , placing a flag on each one gets to be quite an undertaking . More impressively , all of the flags are placed by volunteer effort . O ’ neal shares that flag placement starts on Saturday before Memorial Day and this year both West Middle School and Trailor Elementary have volunteered their efforts . Just as importantly , all of those flags have to be taken down the day after and that is done by volunteer labor also . So if you are an individual who likes to volunteer or if you happen to know of any group or organization that volunteers for public service , please feel free to call the cemetery at 303- 761-0117 . They would be glad to hear from you .
As a personal note , I am not sure I have ever experienced a more moving tribute to veterans in my life . Even just walking through the cemetery and noticing the hallowed gravestones from all of our wars would be an experience worth the trip , even without the Memorial Day festivities added on . And to keep perspective , I ’ ve personally observed what appeared to be a widow , totally crumbled on the ground in front of a grave stone , paying respects , and an elderly man who had taken his hands off his walker and used a head stone to steady himself . So with the guest speaker line-up this year ( Representative Mike Coffman ; Colonel John Wagoner , C . O . of the 560th Space Wing and David Johnston , Governor General of Canada ), it proves again to be an event worth attending and an honor to expereince .
The address of Fort Logan National Cemetery is ; 440 W Kenyon Ave , Denver , CO 80236 . Every time I ’ ve gone though , I take Hampden to Sheridan south and the first entrance you come to is the north gate ( on the left ). Traffic will be an issue but it is a small price to pay to honor of our veterans . I hope to see you there .
May 2016 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado 27