Four of the greatest admirals in the history of our country are buried side-by-side at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno. Thanks to a pact between Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Admiral Raymond Spruance, Admiral Charles Lockwood and Admiral Kelly Turner, the World War II Navy giants were laid to rest on these hallowed grounds south of San Francisco. The cemetery is the final resting place for so many of our fallen military members and a place where they are honored for their sacrifices each Memorial Day.
Fleet Admiral Nimitz graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1905 and became one of only four Fleet Admirals in U.S. Navy history. He served on assignments that ranged from battleships to the Great White Fleet cruise of the Pacific Ocean. In World War I, he served in submarines, primarily commanding USS Narwhal.
Admirals Spruance and Lockwood were two of Nimitz’s closest friends. Their competency as warfighters and leaders contributed greatly to victory in the Pacific. During World War II, Spruance commanded the USS Saratoga and other carriers before commanding Task Force 58 in the Battle of Midway, the Philippine Sea, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He retired with more than fifty thousand days of service. Admiral Lockwood served on various ships, aircraft carriers, bombers and destroyers. At the end of World War II, he commanded the U.S. Naval Forces Far East. Admiral Turner served as an officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence but became a destroyer captain and later commanded carriers and surface forces during World War II.
When the Kennedy administration approached Nimitz about planning his own state funeral and burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Nimitz told his wife Catherine that he loved it in California and all of his men from the Pacific were out here. There were spaces for six graves in Nimitz’s designated burial plot at Golden Gate, and when he was asked if he had a preference for who went into the other four graves, Nimitz said, “I’d like to have Spruance and Lockwood.” Admiral Turner had already been laid to rest just a few feet away.
Memorial Day is a time to honor our fallen, but it is also an appropriate time to reflect on the contributions, sacrifices and achievements of our military heroes. They protected the United States from the threat of tyranny, from those who would destroy us from within.
The United States of America was founded with the assertion that rights come from God, not the government. But as Alexis de Tocqueville warned, “when belief in God declines, tyranny is right around the corner. If you’re ever in the area, pay your respects to those brave men and women interred at the Golden Gate National Cemetery.
