Stories abound in cemeteries with military cemeteries no exception partly because of all the documentation available. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery became one of seven national cemeteries established -1934-1939 – between the two World Wars. An aging population of veterans added to the need in light of available grave space in existing national cemeteries. Veterans’ benefits included burial space. On the Pacific Coast, at the time of establishment of the cemetery here, only one national cemetery existed in San Francisco. Army and Navy officials tried earlier to change the post cemetery at Fort Rosecrans as a national cemetery only to have the Department of War turn them down. The massive expansion of the military during World War I changed the situation dramatically.