Memorial Day weekend visits to Fresno-area cemeteries small and distanced due to coronavirus
The Memorial Day weekend is eerily quiet at central San Joaquin Valley cemeteries.
In previous years, veterans groups hold special ceremonies and families gather to honor their loved ones during the solemn holiday that dates back to the Civil War.
But this year the coronavirus pandemic almost wiped out those commemorations and visits.
John Mendez Jr. said he usually waits until the Monday holiday to visit his parents’ graves in order to avoid the large Sunday crowds. But before lunch Sunday he was alone at Mountain View Cemetery, west of Highway 99 in Fresno, as he peered over a slope of military graves dotted with small American flags.
The chirping of birds and a weak howl of wind were the only sounds. It was quite a contrast from the typical commemorations that include taps, gun salutes and speeches.
“It’s too bad that it’s like that, but what can you do?” Mendez Jr., 79, said. “It’s the way things are.”
Merely being able to visit his parents on the Memorial Day weekend was a good thing, Mendez Jr. said.
He has been visiting his parents’ graves almost every week for eight years. His mother died in 2012 and his father died in 1952 in a car crash in Malaga, near southeast Fresno. The Mendezes are buried side-by-side.
John Mendez Sr. served in the Army in World War II after being drafted from his hometown of Calexico, in Southern California. After fighting in Europe, he was moved to Okinawa.
“When he was there, they got the notice that the war was over,” Mendez Jr. said.
Mendez Jr. said his father returned to Calexico following the war, but then a man in “an Army truck” offered to move his family to Fresno County for the grape harvest.
Social distancing
Mendez Jr. had noticed he was the only one at the cemetery when he arrived Sunday, so he had left his face mask in his truck.
The Fresno County Department of Public Health loosened restrictions ahead of the holiday for those wanting to visit cemeteries. Fears of coronavirus infections had kept officials from allowing the public to visit graves or burials like usual.
For those who did attend during the holiday weekend, the county recommended they follow guidelines like maintaining their distance and disclosing whether they were sick or positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus.
Cars trickled in and out all morning on Sunday through the gates of the cemeteries west of Fresno.
Passing residents briefly dropped flowers off at gravesides, and only a small number of families sat around — the emptiness at the cemeteries kept the graveside gatherings more than distanced.
Commemorations
Events over the three-day weekend that draw hundreds of people were all but canceled due to California’s shelter in place rules. Veterans groups this year instead opted for safely handing out flags to cemetery visitors and holding private services.
For instance, Clovis VFW Post 3225 will be holding short ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. at Academy and Redbank cemeteries consisting of a hand salute during the playing of taps and a short prayer. Post members will be at the cemeteries, both east of Clovis, from 8 to 10 a.m. handing out small U.S. flags for family members to place on veterans’ graves.
And the Clovis Veterans Memorial District is sharing a video on its Facebook page that is a virtual replica of the Patriotic Concert the district hosts every year. The watch party will be hosted at 9 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Also, the district will have a women in military exhibit, crafts and themed scavenger hunt (with prizes) on its website at cvmdistrict.org.
