Heroes Grove in Golden Gate Park, honoring the fallen soldiers of World War I, is a quiet, meditative spot, as shown in a 1964 photo (right) and in a contemporary photo.

Ceremony may cast new light on nearly forgotten SF monument to WWI fallen

By Carl Nolte
via the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper web site

There was a solemn ceremony at noon on Saturday, August 25 at Heroes Grove, the site of a nearly forgotten monument in Golden Gate Park, to honor 761 San Franciscans who died in the war to end all wars a century ago.

The monument is an 18-ton granite stone carved with the names of 748 men and 13 women from San Francisco who died in World War I. The site, called the Grove of Heroes, is surrounded by redwood trees and reached by an unmarked trail near the park entrance at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street.

“It is a very beautiful place, a quiet spot where you could come and reflect,” said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt, chair of San Francisco’s World War I Centennial commemoration.

The monument itself is similar to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. But instead of being chronologically listed, the San Francisco names are in alphabetical order, from Carl Aasland to Alfred E. Zuern.

Saturday’s event is sponsored by the Gold Star Parents organization of the Bay Area, made up of the parents whose children have died in America’s wars.

The ceremonies also will include the dedication of a large memorial seating rock to honor those who lost their lives in all wars and a commemoration of Army Cpl.. Timothy Shea, a Sonoma resident who was killed in an ambush in Iraq on Aug. 25, 2005. He was 22 when he died.

Read the entire article on the San Francisco Chronicle web site here:

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