Friends of Oakland Cemetery Memorial Day Event

By Monica Newbury

At 10 am on May 31st, 2021, The Friends of Oakland Cemetery will host an event to honor those interred at Oakland that served our country. There will be a short service by a military chaplain and a retired military bugler will play.  You do not have to know someone buried at Oakland to attend – the public is welcome at this free event.  

The Friends of Oakland Cemetery is a group that began on Facebook. We are made up of family members and friends that care about the preservation and restoration of Oakland Cemetery. Not all Friends have family buried in Oakland. Quite a few are just history and cemetery enthusiasts. We have formed small volunteer groups that work on the maintenance of the cemetery, the preservation of headstones, and the photographing and recording of the stone information for public records.

As we researched the records of soldiers in the cemetery, we saw that many were not returned home for burial until years after their deaths. Working so closely with these graves, we felt compelled to do something to honor the soldiers. We plan to make it an annual event, and may also plan something in future for Veteran’s Day. 

The Friends will have the graves of our fallen heroes marked with flags and pass out carnations for the attendees to lay at the graves if they choose to do so.

We will read of the names of our fallen heroes, along with the date of their death, the war they perished in and the location of their death. This will encompass veterans of WWl, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

Some of the honorees are:

• SMN Frank Hambrick, 1895-1918, US Navy, France
• PFC Michael Sanchez, 1950-1970, US Army, Vietnam 
• Juan “Johnny” Guzman, 1938-1957, US Air Force, Biloxi, MS 
• SPC  Robert “Bobby” Coronado, 1949-1971, US Army, Vietnam 
• PFC John Wayne Cannon, 1946-1970, US Army, Vietnam 
• Jesus “Jesse” Tames,  1928-1949, US Air Force, Ft. Jefferson, OH 
• CB Stacy, 1930-1950 US Navy, South Korea 
• Raul Lujan Escabado, 1931-1952, US Air Force, Waco, TX 
• Oscar Davis Bass, 1925-1950, U.S. Coast Guard, Iwo Jima, Japan 
• Corp Henry Lara Aceves, 1926-1950, US Army, North Korea
• Eddie M. Stroope, 1944 U.S. Navy, Norfolk, Virginia
• Raymond B. Tobar, 1915-1944, U.S. Army,  France

Please join us for this special event. Oakland Cemetery is located at 3900 Oakland Circle, Dallas off of S. Malcolm X Blvd.