Effort being restarted to mark graves of military veterans who have no headstone

Few who served in America's armed forces would have believed it possible that they might someday be laid to rest in an unmarked grave — with no headstone and no name to be remembered by.

So it came as unsettling news in 2020 when Jim La Mar, then-president of Greenlawn Funeral Homes and Cemeteries, discovered that there were likely hundreds of such veteran graves in Greenlawn's two local cemeteries.

La Mar believed, and still believes, this issue is not just at Greenlawn, but is commonplace at cemeteries across Kern County, California and the United States.

He vowed at the time do something to fix it, and by Veterans Day 2020, the first headstones began arriving at Greenlawn Southwest.

Then the effort began to fizzle.

"Four years ago we got started, we got some work done," he said. "Then it slowed down. COVID hit."

La Mar retired from Greenlawn last year, around the time it was sold. Then last month, the cemetery professional was hired out of retirement by Anthem Partners, a privately owned operator of cemeteries and funeral homes.

Then he got a call from Ed Gaede, a Vietnam veteran and veterans advocate who led the successful effort to build the Kern County World War II Memorial at Jastro Park.

Gaede encouraged La Mar to restart his efforts, to complete the mission he began four years before to make sure every veteran's grave has a headstone.

La Mar spoke with his new employers, who told him they were behind the idea, that they viewed it as an appropriate community service, and a chance to right a wrong.

Gaede wholeheartedly agreed.

"All veterans who served, sacrificed and purchased our freedom need to be honored with a headstone on their final resting place," he said.

La Mar found himself energized and excited by the possibility of finishing the job he had started four years earlier, but he decided, to do it right he needed to invite all of Bakersfield's large, privately owned cemeteries into the effort.

"I said, 'Let's invite every cemetery in Bakersfield to participate,'" La Mar said. "So we have the two Greenlawn locations on board. Union Cemetery and Hillcrest said they'll be part of this, too."

"Now they haven't done any research yet, but they've committed to me that if I'm going to run this, we'll get this going again."

Griselda Hurtado, association manager at Historic Union Cemetery in east Bakersfield, said she's all-in on any effort to make sure military veterans interred at Union are remembered and are properly identified at their graves.

"The difference at Union is that many of our headstones are fading or have deteriorated over time," Hurtado said.

The problem therefore may be more complex at Union, which has gravestones dating back to veterans of the Civil War, including soldiers both blue and gray.

In addition, the original gravestones at Union are history no one wants to disturb.

Indeed, La Mar only plans to place headstones where there are veteran graves with no markers.

"If there is anything we can do," Hurtado said, "to serve the veterans as they served us, we will do it."

Another key partner in the effort, La Mar said, is Jose Lopez, director of the Kern County Veteran Services Department.

The county department works closely with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, often referred to simply as the VA, which furnishes at no charge a headstone or marker for the grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world, regardless of their date of death.

Lopez is committing employee hours to this effort, he said.

Making sure every vet's grave has a marker is more than a necessity.

"In fact, it's our duty," he said.