Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

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Established
  
1826

Size
  
331 acres (134 ha)

Area
  
120 ha

Country
  
United States

No. of graves
  
188,000+

Phone
  
+1 314-845-8320

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Location
  
Saint Louis County, Missouri

Type
  
United States National Cemetery

Address
  
2900 Sheridan Rd, St. Louis, MO 63125, USA

Hours
  
Open today · 8AM–4:30PMFriday8AM–4:30PMSaturday8AM–4:30PMSunday8AM–4:30PMMonday8AM–4:30PMTuesday8AM–4:30PMWednesday8AM–4:30PMThursday8AM–4:30PM

Burials
  
Michael Blassie, Jack Buck, Thomas Meehan III

Similar
  
Jefferson Barracks Military P, River City Casino, Missouri Civil War Museum, Bellefontaine Cemetery, Little Rock National Cemetery

Visiting jefferson barracks national cemetery


Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery is an American military cemetery located in St. Louis County, Missouri, just on the banks of the Mississippi River. The cemetery was established after the American Civil War in an attempt to put together a formal network of military cemeteries. It started as the Jefferson Barracks Military Post Cemetery in 1826 and became a United States National Cemetery in 1866.

Contents

The first known burial was Elizabeth Ann Lash, the infant child of an officer stationed at Jefferson Barracks.

The cemetery is administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the former site of Jefferson Barracks. It covers 331 acres (134 ha) and the number of interments as of 2014 is approximately 188,000. The cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Jefferson barracks national cemetery


Notable interments

  • Medal of Honor recipients
  • Major Ralph Cheli, for heroism while leading a bombing mission in World War II.
  • Donald D. Pucket, pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, for action World War II
  • Other notable individuals
  • First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, previously interred as the "Vietnam unknown soldier" at the Tomb of the Unknowns, reinterred here after DNA testing positively identified his remains
  • Jack Buck, former St. Louis Cardinals baseball announcer
  • The last living Spanish–American War Veteran Peter J. Cook.
  • Franklin Gritts, Cherokee artist and art director of the Sporting News
  • Johnnie Johnson, pioneering rock musician
  • Robert McFerrin Sr. (1921–2006). Opera singer
  • Henry Townsend (1909–2006). Musician
  • Three veterans of the American Revolution buried in the Old Post Section:
  • Private Richard Gentry, veteran of the Revolutionary and the Indian Wars. He was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
  • Major Russell Bissell, veteran of the Revolutionary and Indian Wars.
  • Colonel Thomas Hunt, a "Minuteman" at the Battle of Concord, April 1775. During the revolution he was wounded at the Battle of Stony Point and Siege of Yorktown. He was also a veteran of the Indian Wars and commanded the 1st Infantry Regiment.
  • Other burials of note
  • Mass grave of sixty-one merchant marines and sailors who died in the fire aboard the SS J. Pinckney Henderson on August 19, 1943.
  • Remains of 5 crewman from B36 Bomber 075 lost on the coast of British Columbia Canada while conducting a training mission on February 13, 1950

    • References

    Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA