SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Earlier this week, we looked at what many viewers called an appalling sight at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. We flew Chopper 8 over Miramar National Cemetery and spotted similar conditions.
It's been six months of solitude for Coronado resident Louis Semon.
"I've been coming every day, and I talk with her and I pray and I find comfort that way," he said.
The retired Air Force officer has high praise for Miramar National Cemetery caretakers, who not only maintain his late wife of 40 years' final resting place, but also those of the hundreds of fallen heroes all around her.
"I'm personally pleased with everything I've seen," he said.
Nearby, an open grave waiting to be filled sits in a grassless burial area, which appears to have been neglected by the groundskeeping staff. But when you dig deeper, you learn it's a carefully
planned process. The barren landscape around the headstones is totally temporary.
"They have to dig it up and there's no grass, then they've got to put the stones in and make sure everything is straight and level, and then a couple of weeks later they put the grass in," Louis explained.
Cemetery administrators say the newest section should be full in a month and then beautification begins. Then what was once a line in the sand will become seamless sod.
"I reassure the people that they'll be real happy with it, and it will look just as pretty as where I'm at right now," Louis said.
Miramar National Cemetery was dedicated in January 2010 and had its first burial 10 months later.
The 323-acre site will eventually have more than 250,000 burial spaces.
