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After 106 years, a Civil War vet gets his gravestone
May 22nd, 2009, 4:10 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Tom Berg, Staff Writer
After 106 years, a Civil War vet gets his gravestone - Offbeat OC - OCRegister.com
Civil War veteran Charles Horner died in 1903.
On Monday, he'll finally get a gravestone and dedication service — thanks to the detective work of Charles Beal, who spends many a lunch-hour in the Santa Ana Library researching the dead.
He has identified 797 Civil War grave sites in Orange County since 1999 and, in the process, discovered some 30 unmarked graves.
"It's important to me to give them a final resting place," says Beal, 53, a senior land surveyor for the County of Orange. "It's a shame they've been forgotten."
His latest discoveries are the sites of seven Civil War veterans and one Indian Wars veteran who have lain in unmarked graves for as long as 106 years.
Officials will dedicate eight new gravestones to them Monday during Memorial Day observations at the Santa Ana Cemetery.
The 10 a.m. service will include a color guard, a band, a cannon salute, the presentation of colors and wreaths, and speakers — including Superior Court Judge Daniel McNerney, who'll tell of his 12-year effort to acquire the Purple Heart decoration for his father, who was wounded on Saipan in 1944.
The Santa Ana Cemetery (1919 E. Santa Clara Ave.) has held Memorial Day services since 1881 when Grand Army of the Republic veterans honored six Civil War veterans. Monday's services, hosted by the Tri-City Veterans Memorial Day Committee, will take place at the Monument To The Unknown Dead of the Civil War.
May 22nd, 2009, 4:10 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Tom Berg, Staff Writer
After 106 years, a Civil War vet gets his gravestone - Offbeat OC - OCRegister.com
Civil War veteran Charles Horner died in 1903.
On Monday, he'll finally get a gravestone and dedication service — thanks to the detective work of Charles Beal, who spends many a lunch-hour in the Santa Ana Library researching the dead.
He has identified 797 Civil War grave sites in Orange County since 1999 and, in the process, discovered some 30 unmarked graves.
"It's important to me to give them a final resting place," says Beal, 53, a senior land surveyor for the County of Orange. "It's a shame they've been forgotten."
His latest discoveries are the sites of seven Civil War veterans and one Indian Wars veteran who have lain in unmarked graves for as long as 106 years.
Officials will dedicate eight new gravestones to them Monday during Memorial Day observations at the Santa Ana Cemetery.
The 10 a.m. service will include a color guard, a band, a cannon salute, the presentation of colors and wreaths, and speakers — including Superior Court Judge Daniel McNerney, who'll tell of his 12-year effort to acquire the Purple Heart decoration for his father, who was wounded on Saipan in 1944.
The Santa Ana Cemetery (1919 E. Santa Clara Ave.) has held Memorial Day services since 1881 when Grand Army of the Republic veterans honored six Civil War veterans. Monday's services, hosted by the Tri-City Veterans Memorial Day Committee, will take place at the Monument To The Unknown Dead of the Civil War.
