Letter to the Editor - For Immediate Release

SUBJECT: Expand and preserve military cemetery at Ft. McClellan

After reviewing the history of Fort McClellan and that of Arlington National Cemetery it seems that there are enough similarities between the two that Arlington might be used as a model for the military cemetery at Fort McClellan. This matter is of special concern to me given that is where my father, Lt. Col. Leonard P. Lynch, is interred.

In April 1861 Federal troops occupied the plantation and Arlington House on the Potomac River in Virginia establishing fortifications. The first bodies were interred in 1864 and by the end of the Civil War some 5,000 bodies had been interred on the Arlington estate. Hence Arlington was an occupied military fort before becoming a cemetery. Then after the Civil War the ownership of the property was disputed, returned to civilian ownership and later sold back to the government which expanded its usage as a cemetery.

Likewise at Ft. McClellan, now that the fort is not being used by the military, we are left with a military cemetery. If the model of Arlington is followed the land around the grave sites should be reserved by the government and expanded into a military park or enlarged cemetery area reserved exclusively for soldiers and their immediate families. To turn the property around the cemetery over to the Joint Powers Authority for development by private contractors as a public cemetery would be a dishonor to the military personnel, their interred family members and their loved ones.

It would be reasonable to make an allotment 50-100 acres or more for a military park/expanded cemetery because those interred and their loved one chose this area for its scenic beauty and tranquility reasoning that the site would forever remain undeveloped or designated for any public usage.

I therefore urge everyone involved with this matter to do the right thing and preserve the military cemetery at Ft. McClellan and a significant acreage surrounding the grave sites as an expanded park/military only cemetery area. This is the right and proper action and to designate or develop this property for any other purpose would dishonor those interred on this hallowed ground!

Sincerely,
Terry Lynch, Founder and President
APA: American Patriots Association
Box 241035
6701 Winton Blont Blvd. Montgomery, AL 36124-1035
Date: 6 April 1999