West Virginia National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia. It encompasses 89.7 acres (36.3 ha). Along with Grafton National Cemetery, it is one of the two national cemeteries in the state of West Virginia, both of which are located in Grafton. After it was determined that the 3 acres (1.2 ha) Grafton cemetery had inadequate space for new burials, West Virginia groups began petitioning for a new national cemetery for the state. The federal government appropriated the site of the former West Virginia Industrial School for Boys for the new cemetery, which was dedicated and opened in 1987.
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“For some reason a nation feels as shy about admitting that it ever went forth to war for the sake of more wealth as a man would about admitting that he had accepted an invitation just for the sake of the food. This is one of humanity’s most profound imbecilities, as perhaps the only justification for asking one’s fellowmen to endure the horrors of war would be the knowledge that if they did not fight they would starve.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“While I am in favor of the Government promptly enforcing the laws for the present, defending the forts and collecting the revenue, I am not in favor of a war policy with a view to the conquest of any of the slave States; except such as are needed to give us a good boundary. If Maryland attempts to go off, suppress her in order to save the Potomac and the District of Columbia. Cut a piece off of western Virginia and keep Missouri and all the Territories.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
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—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“The cemetery isn’t really a place to make a statement.”
—Mary Elizabeth Baker, U.S. cemetery committee head. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 15 (June 13, 1988)