Fort Knox is known for setting high standards within the Army. And those standards were on display when the Army National Military Cemetery inspectors, who serve as the principal advisor to the secretary of the Army on all matters related to the 40 national cemeteries, visited the installation in September 2014 for an inspection. They were on post to see if it was meeting standards set by Arlington National Cemetery.
Fort Knox not only passed its inspection, but is currently the only cemetery out of 40 that meets the national shrine
standard. The team constantly receives calls from installations overseas such as Germany to those around the U.S. like Fort Drum, New York, asking them what right looks like.
But passing the inspection wasn't an easy feat because the Main Post Cemetery needed a few renovations.
When Dave Marcum, the Fort Knox casualty operations coordinator, was given the responsibility of maintaining the Main Post Cemetery he replied by asking where it was located.
When Barbara Bon-nell, the Fort Knox Cas-ualty Assistance Center chief, and Marcum visited the cemetery he said his response was, "Oh Lord have mercy… look how we are taking care of our vets."
"But the good thing was from day one we realized we had to start a process of making corrective actions before Arlington (National Military Cemetery inspectors) came down and said, 'hey, you need to do something to your cemetery,'" explained Marcum.
Bonnell noted that the urgency to maintain military cemeteries stemmed from the scandal at Arlington National Cemetery.
The mix-up and resulting scandal prompted legislation from Congress, which required the cemetery to account for every single one of the more than 32,000 remains entombed at the nearly 150-year-old graveyard, according to the washingtonpost.com.
Although there was a mix-up in records at Arlington, Bonnell said that was never the case at Fort Knox. She said they knew the location and names off those interred at the post cemetery.
"We have immaculate records," said Bonnell. "We knew our records were good. We just didn't have the funding and the focus just wasn't as strong initially to be able to make the changes that needed to be made."
Some of those changes included maintenance to the grounds and renovations to the caretaker's house.
To figure out exactly how to make those changes, and what should be done to maintain a national shrine, the team conducted a self-check--after some training.
Marcum attended the cemetery response official course last April so he would know how to maintain a national shrine cemetery. Once Marcum returned from the three-day course, he conducted a round table with the Fort Knox team to talk about the cemetery's shortfalls.
"We did a self-check before Arlington came and we realized our short falls," said Marcum. "We started correcting way before Arlington (inspected Fort Knox)."
Once Arlington inspected, Marcum said they didn't find anything wrong with the cemetery. He added that having leadership, which included the last three garrison commanders, on board made the process easier because the colonels ensured the resources were made available to them.
Marcum also said Fort Knox's Directorate of Public Works was instrumental in helping with the renovations and using money from their budget.
"We ran into a monetary shortfall with what IMCOM (Installation Management Command) had allocated to Fort Knox," explained Bonnell. "DPW took money (from) their budget and added it in to help make that cemetery the way it looks now."
Bonnell added that they are passionate about the cemetery and aware of its age. They also understood it was important to keep the original 1930s architectural look.
"It's pretty old and it shouldn't look like a new (cemetery)," she said. "It needs to look like one that's cared for, maintained and honors the sacrifices that those (who) are within. By maintaining it, we always recognize what those individuals have done and at a minimum we owe them that."
The cost for completing the renovations was $504,673 and Marcum said he believes DPW added another $100,000 to $150,000 from their budget to complete the process.
Marcum said the renovation work also included re-fabricating the windows in the caretaker's house, fixing the window trim and the roof and making sure it maintained the original look.
The largest and most costly issue was sodding the grass. Marcum pointed out that the cemetery sits right next to Lindsey Golf Course and when the grass was seeded it was sprayed which meant grass but that also included weeds.
"We probably had 40 percent sod and 60 percent weeds," explained Marcum. "Rob Pipta, (DPW's quality assurance), brought in a sod expert and decided the best way to correct that action. Instead of trying to over seed, (which meant) we were never going to accomplish our goal, they pulled up all the old sod and re-excavated the entire cemetery to make it leveled. They put down 100 percent sod with a sprinkler system so when it's dry weather we won't lose the sod in our cemetery."
The one thing that baffled Bonnell and Marcum during the renovation was the missing flagpole, which was odd because the cemetery was for veterans and their Families.
"One of the first things me and Ms. Bonnell thought was how can you have a veteran cemetery without a flagpole," said Marcum.
They located and used the old pharmacy's flagpole when that issue became a priority and Bonnell added that having the flagpole lit means the flag can fly continuously.
Water and electricity was added and having those means ceremonies can now be conducted at the cemetery.
For those who visited the cemetery in the past parking was challenging because there wasn't a parking lot or restrooms. Marcum said a paved parking lot with handicap parking and restrooms were created.
Once the renovations were complete, Bonnell said retired Brig. Gen. Julius Berthold made a beeline to their office after his weekly visit to his wife's grave to show his appreciation and comment on the improvements made to the cemetery.
Marcum said adding an app is a future goal. Having the app will assist family members with locating their loved ones. They will also have access to see the front and back of the headstone.
Although it's been a three-year turnaround, Marcum recalled his initial thoughts after seeing the condition of the cemetery and compared them with what he sees today.
"Today I stand out there with a sense of pride," Marcum said. "Not just for me, but the Family members who come and know their loved ones are being taken care of (on these) hallowed grounds. The cemetery isn't for the dead, it's for the living.
"It's the way it should be, it's a veteran's cemetery. It shouldn't look like something that's been forgotten and I think the Fort Knox team (and) the garrison commander made it a priority, (because) it was something of pride for Fort Knox."
Bonnell agreed with Marcum and she added that it's an honor to take care of the cemetery.
"In our world of casualty we deal with Families and Soldiers when things are bad," explained Bonnell.
"It's important that a Family knows we care about that Soldier, not just when the (death) happens or five or 10 years from now, but we care for them forever. For us it's an honor to do that. We take pride in it, but we're humbled that we are allowed to do this."
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