Golden Gate National Cemetery

Golden Gate National Cemetery is located in the city of San Bruno, San Mateo County, 12 miles south of San Francisco. Because of the name and location, it is frequently confused with San Francisco National Cemetery, which dates to the 19th century and is in that city’s Presidio, in view of the Golden Gate Bridge. About 1937, San Francisco residents voted to no longer build cemeteries within the city proper and, as a result, the site for the new national cemetery was selected south of the city limits.

Congress authorized construction of the facility in 1937, with the first interments in 1941. The cemetery was officially dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1942. Then-Attorney General Earl Warren (and later U.S. Supreme Court justice) was keynote speaker at the ceremony. Golden Gate is one of a large number of U.S. Army planned cemeteries started in the 1930s and completed during the 1940s. They were designed specifically to provide abundant burial opportunities in locations around the nation in cities with very large veteran populations.

Over the years several attempts to expand Golden Gate National Cemetery were met with resistance from local residents, so it has remained at its original 161.5 acres since 1941.