Black Civil War Naval Veteran Finally Gets Headstone in Tacoma, Washington-- Part 1: David Franklin

From the October 6, 2022, Stars and Stripes  by Craig Sailor, The News Tribune.

For the past century, a row of military graves in Tacoma's (Washington) Oakwood Hill Cemetery has had a conspicuous gap.  Only a patch of grass marked the final resting place of  David Franklin, Tacoma's only black naval veteran from the Civil War.

That changes this Saturday when a years-long effort speared by a Civil War historian will finally bring Franklin the white marble tombstone that was forgotten in 1920.

Historian Loran Bures' quest for that tombstone began in 2017 when he was researching Pierce County's Civil War veterans and found documents listing David Franklin and his burial at Oakwood Hill.  But when he visited the cemetery, he was unable to find his grave.

Using cemetery records, he founjd that the gap in that neat row of military graves was indeed Franklin's last resting place.

"As any veteran of the United States they should receive their proper burial honors," said Bures.  "That's what we're trying to rectify after 102 years."

So Proud of Mr. Bures for His Accomplishment.  --Old B-Runner