Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
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Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, is an American military cemetery located in Saint 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.
The first known burial was Elizabeth Ann Lash, the infant child of an officer stationed at Jefferson Barracks.
The cemetery is currently administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the former site of Jefferson Barracks. The cemetery currently covers 331 acres (1.3 km²) and the number of interments as of 2005 is approximately 158,762. The cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
[edit] Notable interments
- Jack Buck, former St Louis Cardinals baseball announcer
- First Lieutenant Michael John Blassie, previously interred as the "Vietnam unknown soldier" at the Tomb of the Unknowns, reinterred here after DNA testing positively identified his remains.
- Major Ralph Cheli, awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism while leading a bombing mission in World War II.
- Johnnie Johnson, pioneering rock musician.
- Robert McFerrin Sr. (1921-2006). Opera Singer. Section 1BB Site 951.
- Donald D. Pucket, pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II
- Henry Townsend (1909-2006). Musician. Section 1I Site 610.
As well, there are 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 Battles of Lexington and 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.
