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Los Angeles National Cemetery
Los Angeles National Cemetery
	Cemetery entrance
Details
Established	1889
Location	Sepulveda Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard; Los Angeles, California
Country	US
Coordinates	34°03′40″N 118°27′12″W / 34.0611154°N 118.4534010°W
Type	Public
Owned by	US Department of Veterans Affairs
Size	114 acres (46 ha) developed; 13 acres (5.3 ha) under development;
No. of interments	>85,000
Website	www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/losangeles.asp
Find a Grave	Los Angeles National Cemetery

The Los Angeles National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in the Sawtelle unincorporated community of the West Los Angeles neighborhood in Los Angeles County, California.

Geography

The entrance to the cemetery is located at 950 South Sepulveda Boulevard (90049) at Constitution Avenue, near the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard. It is adjacent to Westwood, Los Angeles and UCLA along the east across Veteran Avenue, and the main Sawtelle Veterans Home campus across the San Diego Freeway (405) along the west. The cemetery was dedicated on May 22, 1889.^[1] It is directly connected to the central Veterans Home facilities by Constitution Avenue's underpass below freeway.

Cemetery

Interred on its 114 acres (46 ha) are war veterans, from the:

An annual ceremony commemorating the birthday of Abraham Lincoln is held at the cemetery on or near February 12. The cemetery's annual Memorial Day program draws several thousand attendees each year.

The chapel at the cemetery was renamed the Bob Hope Veterans Chapel on 29 May 2002, Bob Hope's 99th birthday, in "celebration of his lifelong service to our American Veterans."^[2]^[3]

Notable burials

Medal of Honor recipients

Fourteen Medal of Honor recipients are buried at the cemetery:^[1]

Sergeant First Class (then Sergeant) Chris Carr (medal awarded under name of Christos H. Karaberis), (World War II), US Army, Company L, 337th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. Guignola, Italy, October 1–2, 1944
Sergeant George H. Eldridge, (Indian Campaigns) US Army, Company C, 6th US Cavalry. Wichita River, Texas, July 12, 1870
Sergeant Harry Harvey (also known as Harry Huckman^[1]), (Spanish American War) US Marine Corps, April 5, 1929
Sergeant (then Corporal) Luther Kaltenbach, (Civil War) US Army, Company F, 12 Iowa Infantry. Nashville, Tennessee, December 16, 1864
Landsman William F. Lukes (Korean Campaign of 1871) US Navy, Company D. Korean Forts, June 9–10, 1871
Color Sergeant George McKee, (Civil War), US Army, Company D, 89th New York Infantry. Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865
Sergeant (then Private) Edward Murphy, (Indian Campaigns) US Army, Company G, 1st US Cavalry. Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory, October 20, 1869
Corporal Edwin Phoenix, (Indian Campaigns) US Army, Company E, 4th US Cavalry. Red River Texas, September 26–28, 1875
Farrier Samuel Porter, (Indian Campaigns) US Army, Company L, 6th US Cavalry. Wichita River, Texas, July 12, 1870
Private Charles W. Rundle, (Civil War) US Army, Company A, 116th Illinois Infantry. Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 22, 1863
Wagoner Griffin Seward, (Indian Campaigns) US Army, Company G, 8th US Cavalry. Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory, October 20, 1869
Coxswain Timothy Sullivan, (Civil War) US Navy, USS Louisville. Battles in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, unknown date of action
Corporal (then Private) James Sweeney, (Civil War) US Army, Company A, 1st Vermont Cavalry. Cedar Creek, Virginia, October 19, 1864
Private Robert H. Von Schlick (China Relief Expedition, Boxer Rebellion) US Army, Infantry, Company C, 9th US Infantry. Tientsin, China, July 13, 1900

Other veterans

More than one hundred Buffalo Soldiers are interred at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. These African American soldiers were members of the 9th, 10th, 24th, and 25th Cavalry during the American Civil War^[1]
Scotty Bowers (1923–2019). Sex worker, author, Private First Class
Paul Brinegar (1917–1995). Actor, World War II US Navy Chief Radioman
Jack Burns (1933–2020). Comedian, actor, Sergeant
Richard Carlson (1912–1977). Actor, married to Mona
Royal Dano (1922–1994). Actor, US Army Sergeant
Kevin Dobson (1943–2020). Actor, Specialist 4th Class
Jack Dougherty (1895–1938). Actor, married to Barbara La Marr
Nicholas Porter Earp (1813–1907). Father of Wyatt Earp^[1]
Larry Gelman (1930–2021). Actor, Sergeant
Paul Genge (1913–1988). Actor, Staff Sergeant
Harold Gould (1923–2010). Actor, Private
Russell Hicks (1895–1957). Actor, US Army First Lieutenant
Lawson Harris (1897–1948). Actor, director, producer, and writer. Father of John Derek
Richard H. Kline (1926–2018). Cinematographer, US Navy
Dean Paul Martin (1951–1987). US Air Force, Captain, F-4 Phantom Fighter pilot. Son of Dean Martin, killed when his jet crashed during a storm^[4]
Howard McNear (1905–1969). Actor, Played Floyd the Barber on the Andy Griffith Show. US Army Private, World War II^[5]
Don Newcombe (1926–2019). Major League Baseball player, US Army
Woodrow Parfrey (1922–1984). American film and television actor, US Army
Donald Prell (1924–2020). Venture capitalist, Infantry officer in WWII (wounded and captured in the Battle of the Bulge).
Charlie Robinson (1945–2021). Actor, Private First Class
Henry Rowland (1913–1984). Actor, US Army Corporal
John Russell (1921–1991). Actor, US Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant, World War Two, veteran of Guadalcanal Campaign.
Paul C. Vogel (1899–1975) Cinematographer. US Army Captain. WWI and WWII. Oscar-winner for cinematography - "Battleground" 1949.
James R. Webb (1909–1974). Screenwriter, US Army
Grant Williams (1931–1985). Actor who played The Incredible Shrinking Man, US Air Force
The cemetery contains two British Commonwealth war graves from World War II, a Leading Aircraftman of the Royal Australian Air Force and a Captain of the Royal Canadian Artillery^[6]
Two service dogs were buried in the mid 1940s, however, this practice is no longer permitted. Bonus was a service dog at the Sawtelle Soldiers Home and Blackout was a sentry dog that sustained wounds in the Pacific^[7]

Future burials

Los Angeles National Cemetery has been closed to new interments since approximately 1978, with the exception of spouses of those already buried. To accommodate community need, the Department of Veterans Affairs acquired another 13 acres (5.3 ha) to permit the cemetery to expand.^[8] Future interments will be in urns of cremated ashes placed in columbarium walls built on the new land. By eliminating ground burials, the new acreage will permit about as many new interments as are in the existing 114 acres (46 ha).^[9]

In 2017, Los Angeles National Cemetery began construction on the first phase of the columbarium on Constitution Avenue, west of I-405 just 100 yards (91 m) from the main cemetery entrance. This phase opened in October 2019 and occupies approximately 4.4 acres (1.8 ha) of the site and holds 10,000 niches for cremated remains. The cemetery will construct additional niches on the site as needed until it reaches the planned capacity of 90,854.^[10]