Veterans get new final resting place

Land that once nurtured crops became hallowed ground Monday as a World War II Marine Corps sergeant became the first person laid to rest in the newest national cemetery.

With his family looking on, the cremated remains of Alvin Hayman were buried in Sacramento Valley National Cemetery with military honors, fulfilling Hayman's wish and consecrating land that he once owned.

"This is exactly what he had in mind," said Cathy Burchett as she stood near her father's grave and reflected on the ceremony honoring him. "It was fabulous."

The modest 10-minute ceremony included a California Army National Guard honor guard firing rifles, bugling taps and bagpiping "Amazing Grace." A trio of Marines presented the Hayman family with a crisply folded American flag.

"It was very moving," said Jon Hayman, who received the flag and is one of Hayman's three sons. "It was probably what Dad would have wanted, because he was not a big fan of ceremony. This was short and sweet."

Before succumbing to cancer more than two years ago at the age of 80, Hayman told family members that he wanted to be buried here. The San Franciscan died in July 2004, a day after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it was buying land from him for the cemetery.

"I honestly feel that, yeah, he was holding on to see this close," Burchett said. "He was real proud of his final deal."

Hayman also was proud of his Marine Corps service but was not boastful and was reluctant to talk about combat and the horrors of war, said Burchett and Jon Hayman.

"I never really knew when I was growing up how much the Marine Corps meant to him," Jon Hayman said. "He never told stories, except the good ones."

When Hayman entered the Marine Corps in 1944, he prepared to become part of a force to invade Japan. He instead served in occupied Japan and receiving a war-time commission as a second lieutenant.

After Hayman's death, his family kept his cremated remains, so that they could honor his request that his remains and those of his wife, Irene, who died in 2000, be placed in the new national cemetery.

Veterans like Hayman -- those who served in World War II or the Korean War -- make up about 80 percent of the former service members dying each year. The large and growing number of such veterans accounts for why the VA expects veterans' overall death rate to rise until 2009.

About half of the 138 national cemeteries are full, including the two in the Bay Area, in San Bruno and San Francisco. Until Monday, national cemeteries in Riverside and Gustine were the only ones in California that had room.

"Clearly, there is a tremendous need for this burial benefit to be available in this area," said Don Rinker, who oversees the 16 national cemeteries in nine western states.

In general, anyone who served honorably in the armed forces is eligible to be in a national cemetery, and about 10 percent of those are so interred. Also eligible are those veterans' spouses and dependent children.

The Sacramento Valley National Cemetery is one of a dozen new cemeteries that Congress has authorized. The additions are the largest expansion of the national cemetery system since President Lincoln created it during the Civil War.

Walnut Creek resident Joseph Linchey, 81, is one of about 346,000 veterans who live within 75 miles of the 561-acre new cemetery in Solano County east of Interstate 80.

The World War II Army sergeant fought in Europe until shrapnel tore up one of his hands. The retired aircraft mechanic said he is glad for the opportunity to be buried in a national cemetery near his eight children and 11 grandchildren, all of whom live in the Bay Area.

"When I saw this I thought: Well, it'd be perfect for me," Linchey said. "They wouldn't have too far to drive."

For now, the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery occupies just 14 acres of the ranch where tomatoes, sunflowers, alfalfa and bell peppers grew. The VA has erected a flag pole, graded gravel roads, sodded lawns and installed portable buildings.

There was no doubt, said Jon Hayman, that the new cemetery was a fitting resting place for his father. "He told us: This is where I'll be."