Blog 3904 – 08.91.2026

The First U.S. National Cemetery 

I was born and spent most of my young life within a few blocks from the Chattanooga National Cemetery. My parents courted there on walks in late 1949 early 1950 and they were both buried there, Dad in 1997 as a World War Two Navy veteran and Mom in 2000. Dad’s body was buried deeper to allow for Mom’s body to be buried in the same grave. Her name, birth and death dates are carved on the back of his tombstone.

Although not as famous as Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. the Chattanooga National Cemetery precedes it by one year making it the first U.S. National Cemetery. My brother Robert once as a teenager had a summer job maintaining those hallowed grounds. He and I both and our children have walked together there. 

It has been ten years since I visited Chattanooga National Cemetery, yet it ever remains a special place in my thoughts.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White