Barrancas National Cemetery Annex

Barrancas National Cemetery is located within the boundaries of the U.S. Naval Air Station, eight miles southwest of downtown Pensacola, FL. The Pensacola Naval Air Station is home to the U.S. Naval Air Training Command and encompasses almost 12,000 acres. It was established in 1914 on the site of the old U.S. Navy Yard at Pensacola. A small cemetery had been maintained here in conjunction with the Marine Hospital that was located near Fort Barrancas. In 1838, the cemetery was expanded and established as a naval cemetery. During the Civil War years, many casualties were interred in gravesites initially set aside for personnel on duty at the Navy Yard.

Following the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, Florida seceded from the Union despite its entry only 16 years before. As it provided the best harbor along the Gulf of Mexico, possession of Pensacola Bay was a key mission for both the Union and Confederate forces. The Army guarded the entrance to Pensacola Bay with three fortifications: Fort McRae and Fort Barrancas on the land side, and Fort Pickens at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island. Army Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, commander of the 1st U.S. Artillery at Fort Barrancas, realized that if war proved inevitable and Southern forces attacked, his small force of 51 men could not possibly defend all four garrisons. On January 10, 1861, the same day Florida seceded from the Union, Slemmer spiked the guns at Fort Barrancas, blew up ammunition at Fort McRae and concentrated all his troops at Fort Pickens, which he believed was the key to the defense of Pensacola Harbor. Two days later, Slemmer's men watched as Southern soldiers moved into the other forts across the channel. When, on January 15, soldiers from Florida and Alabama demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens, Lieutenant Slemmer refused. Within days the two sides reached a truce in which the South agreed not to attack Fort Pickens and the North would not reinforce the fort.

By the time Lincoln took office in March, both Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SC, and Fort Pickens needed supplies. Lincoln had pledged to continue federal occupation of both forts. If he withdrew the garrisons it would mean he recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacy; if he supplied the forts he risked war. The Union eventually did send ships from Fort Monroe but, under the terms of the truce, they dared not land. For 10 weeks, the Union ships waited, while inside the fort Slemmer and his men prepared for the inevitable strike. After ten weeks without an attack, Slemmer and his men learned of the firing on Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War.

On the mainland, the Navy Yard was surrendered intact to Confederate forces on April 12, 1861, but Fort Pickens remained under control of the Union forces throughout the Civil War. For the next year, Confederate and Union forces engaged in a number of skirmishes. In May 1862, Confederate forces abandoned the Navy yard, Fort Barrancas, and Fort McRae. The continuing presence of a strong federal force at Fort Pickens no doubt was a significant factor in the Confederate decision to abandon the Pensacola Bay area.

Many Union and Confederate dead were interred in the Barrancas cemetery. As the war continued, the remains of other casualties were brought here for burial. By agreement between the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of War, on January 30, 1868, the cemetery was transferred to the War Department to become Barrancas National Cemetery.

In 1869, Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, inspector of national cemeteries, reported that about 1,310 burials had been made in the cemetery. In addition to the troops stationed at Forts Barrancas and Pickens, remains had been reinterred here from the surrounding area, including Santa Rosa Island and Apalachicola in Franklin County. This total included the remains of 673 unknown Union soldiers.

In 1944, 1950, 1986, and 1990 additional acreage was transferred from the Naval Air Station to expand the cemetery.

Monuments and Memorials
Barrancas National Cemetery contains a monument honoring those who died from yellow fever. It was erected in 1884 by the Marine Guard of the Navy Yard in memory of eight comrades who died in an epidemic during late August and early September 1883. The names of the fever victims are inscribed on the four faces of the monuments.

Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Recipients receive the Medal of Honor from the President on behalf of Congress. It was first awarded during the Civil War and the eligibility criteria, medal design, and recognition on a recipients' grave marker have all evolved over time. There are 435 Medal of Honor recipients interred at VA national cemeteries including 6 double recipients.

» Medal of Honor recipients interred or memorialized here:

Brigadier General George E. "Bud" Day (Vietnam). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Air Force, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, for personal bravery that saved the lives of fellow aviators after his aircraft was shot down in North Vietnam, August 26, 1967. Day died in 2013 and is buried in Section 51, Site 30.

Commander Clyde E. Lassen (Vietnam). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Navy, Helicopter Support Squadron 7, for actions in the rescue of downed aviators in the Republic of Vietnam, June 19, 1968. Lassen died in 1994 and is buried in Section 38, Site 113.

Major Stephen W. Pless (Vietnam). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, for outstanding flying skills in the rescue of wounded soldiers near Quang Nai, in the Republic of Vietnam, August 19, 1967. Pless died in 1969 and is buried in Section 21, Site 929-A.

Staff Sergeant Clifford Sims (Vietnam). Clifford Sims was born in Florida on June 18, 1942. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1961. In December 1967, Staff Sergeant Sims fought in the Vietnam War with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Sims’ company was near the city of Hue when the Tet Offensive began. On February 21, 1968, under heavy fire, Sims maneuvered his squad by a burning ammunition bunker before throwing himself over a tripped booby trap. For his sacrifice, Sims was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He was buried in Barrancas National Cemetery on March 15, 1968, in Section 29, Site 546.

Other Burials
Ga-ah was the second wife of Apache Chief Geronimo and she joined him in resistance to Mexican and Arizona territorial expansion into tribal lands. During the Indian Wars, U.S. forces captured and imprisoned Ga-ah at Fort Pickens, Florida, where she died of pneumonia, or Bright’s disease. Ga-ah was apparently the only prisoner to die at the fort during the Indian Wars, and the only prisoner of war interred in a Florida cemetery. She died September 29, 1887 (Section 18, Site 1496).

Born in Florida in 1933, Rosamond Johnson, Jr., joined the army at 15. He was the first African American from Escambia County to die in the Korean War. Johnson served in the 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division. Private First Class Johnson was killed in action on July 26, 1950, after carrying two wounded men to safety, for which he received the Purple Heart posthumously. The county named a blacks-only beach for him in the 1950s. Today Johnson Beach is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, where a monument in his honor was placed in 1996. Johnson was buried in Barrancas National Cemetery on April 23, 1952 (Section 8, Site 65).

General Gary Edward Luck (Vietnam, Persian Gulf). Luck (1937–2024) was raised in Fort Scott, Kansas, and was a Distinguished Military Graduate of Kansas State University. Following graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army in 1960. He would go on to serve for 36 years and fought in Vietnam War and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He rose to become the Commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He retired from active duty in 1996, but continued to serve by creating new leadership programs for general and flag officers and senior enlisted personnel. He was a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College and had an M.A. from Florida State University and a PhD. in Business Administration from George Washington University. His contributions were recognized with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Public Service Award and Senior Fellow Emeritus status by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He now rests in Section 62, Site 408.

Benjamin J. Spellman (Korea). "Benny" Spellman (1931–2001) was born in Pensacola, FL. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge on a football scholarship and found a burgeoning talent for music through his involvement with a local jazz group. Following college, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. His big break came in 1959 when he became a member of Huey "Piano" Smith's ensemble The Clowns. He is best known for the 1962 single "Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette)" and its B-side "Fortune Teller." Spellman walked away from the music industry in the late 1960s, working for many years at a Miller beer distributorship. He was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, shortly before passing away at the age of 79. He now rests in Section 54, Site 906.

Seven of the fourteen crewmembers of the C-130 Hercules Gun-Ship shot down during the Persian Gulf War are buried alongside each other in Section 38.

Two aircrew members, who were in direct support of Somalia, died when their USAF C-130 "JOCKEY 14" Hercules aircraft crashed during takeoff from the coast of Kenya. They are interred next to each other in Section 38.

Seventeen casualties of the 2nd Seminole War from Ft. Myers were reinterred in Section 3 in 1996.

Two local airmen killed by terrorists at the Saudi Arabia U.S. Housing Compound in Dhahran, June 25, 1996, are buried in Section 39, Sites 81 & 82.

The remains of three repatriated aviators from Vietnam are interred in Section 38 and 41.

Ten British aviators killed during training at a naval air station during World War II are buried in Section 23, Sites 1923, 1931, 1955, 1956, 1972, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 & 1999.

Sections 1 thru 12 contain the remains of Civil War casualties and include:

White Union Soldiers – known: 379, unknown: 271
U.S. Colored Troops – known: 154, unknown: 98
Citizens – known: 21, unknown: 47
Confederate Soldiers – known: 60, unknown: 12
Officers and Sailors of the U.S. Navy – known:112, unknown: 225