By ALEXANDRIA BORDAS | Reporter
Folding chairs inside the Bob Hope Memorial Chapel have been replaced with new wooden pews. Plans for stain glass windows, ceiling restorations and new light fixtures are in the works. Water usage at the Los Angeles National Cemetery, which spans 115 acres, has been reduced by 25 percent with $200,000 invested into irrigation systems.
Rex Kern has made all of these unassuming improvements in exactly one year.
Kern is the Director of the LA National Cemetery and has over a decade of experience in meeting the high demands from military families, veterans and VA administrators.
“I’m a vet myself and want to make sure the cemetery here is as pristine as possible,” Kern said during a one-on-one interview with the Palisadian-Post at the LA National Cemetery and Veterans Benefits Administration open house on Monday, Aug. 3. “This cemetery is Shrine Status and we want it to look the best it can.”
Ernest Cowell, a member of American Legion Post 283 in Pacific Palisades, is the President and liaison to the National Cemetery Support Foundation and Naval Committee.
“We support the cemetery in any and every way we can to benefit the community,” Cowell told the Post. “Our project used to be limited to Memorial Day but now we encompass much more.”
Cowell said his foundation is instrumental in raising funds to support projects, such as restoring the chapel.
“This building is historically the oldest cemetery on the West Coast,” Cowell said.
In recent years the VA has been under scrutiny for the way it has handled homeless veterans (4,016 of them according to the 2015 Homeless Count) and has been accused of misusing the 387-acre campus by illegally leasing land to outside entities.
“This is the most prized land west of the Mississippi and it sends a chill down my back to hear that politicians are going to get involved with VA plans,” said Palisadian Diane Bleak during a Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) meeting on Thursday, July 23.
The PPCC hosted Vince Kane of the VA who presented the VA “Master Plan” and answered questions from concerned Palisadians.
“It’s somewhat of a black hole…the money goes in and you never know where it goes,” Bleak said.
Separating himself from the woes of the larger VA campus, Kern focuses on the cemetery.
“Our budget is tight, $1.8 million for the cemetery,” Kern explained. “Part of my job is to make sure we spend the taxpayer dollars appropriately and not throw it away.”
Veterans agreed that the cemetery was neglected for many years until Kern came around and started making change happen.
“I am angling my staff to be goodwill ambassadors and if I need something done I take it to our headquarters in Washington D.C.,” Kern said. “Our landscape used to be an eyesore but we fixed that up and we are in the process of transforming the chapel into a space for reflection.”
Ramon Martinez, a veteran who is still in the Army Reserves, started working as a groundskeeper in February.
“I instill in all the guys I work with that you only get one chance to lay these men and women to rest,” said Martinez, who prepares sites for military burials. “I am burying veterans, my brothers and sisters, and it’s an honor to have this job.”
Martinez, Cowell and Kern all said that most people are not even aware this is a revered cemetery in the military community. Kern is hoping that will change.
Cowell expressed confidence Kern will make it happen. “He knows how to get things done,” he said.
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