Fort Meade Maryland is the home of the NSA and has been a military installation since 1917. While on a trip for my friend's retirement from the Air Force I had a chance to wander the fort for a bit. Near the south edge perimeter fence sits two cemeteries side by side. The cemeteries are as old as the fort as judged by the dates on many of the headstones.

The more recent of the two is the Post Cemetery which is home to service members who died and many of their children. The headstones are lined up neatly and they are all of similar design, a very military seeming design. Some struck me more intensely than others and the most poignant of them is the top picture of the "2 Unknowns". I stood in front of the headstone for a good 5 minutes thinking about it. No date, no how, no why, no names. Just "unknowns". This is one of the rare "unknowns" grave markers I have ever found in my many visits to various cemeteries around the country.

The headstones presented an interesting image with their regular spacing and consistent design, it resembles a well spaced orchard or looking down the rows of a corn field. Only this is the markers of human remains. Many of the headstones on the north side of the Post Cemetery are those of children. The headstone in the foreground below shows the child lived for 1 day, January 23 to January 24th, 1956. There are a large number of such time frames denoted on the headstones. What was the cause of such a large number of children dying during the 1950s at such a young age?

6 sons of a Major all died January 26 1953!? What could possibly have been the reason for their demise, seemingly all together? This is near the end of the Korean war and I see no major battles that took place at this time in my searches. If these were all adults one would expect them to have separate headstones rather than a single. These all seem to be children which leaves SOO many questions.

The other cemetery that sits adjacent to the Post Cemetery is the Bethel Cemetery. This is where the oldest headstones are located and have a much more haphazard layout, not at all like the Post Cemetery with its orderly rows. Bethel is an interesting grouping given the extremely large number of the Disney family who are buried within.

These are the 2 oldest dates I found on all of the legible stones. Born 1790 and 1795, Richard and Priscilla Disney seem to be the original by the dates. I have found some references to them in searches:
https://www.myheritage.com/names/richard_disney
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10190684/richard-disney

I am going to put forth that the likely hood was that Richard and Priscilla may well have immigrated to the US from England near the early 1800s to the Tennessee area. Many of the historical records of the names are stemming from England before moving to Tennessee then the Baltimore Maryland area.

The Disney family has over 20 headstones spread though the Bethel Cemetery. I just found the reason for their burial on the fort. Before the fort was built the land around it was owned by private citizens. The main families that owned the land were the Disneys and the Downs who sold to the military and helped to build some of the installations on the fort. It seems that for their sacrifice they were given an honorary spot on the fort.

http://www.capitalgazette.com/neighborhoods/ac-cm-fort-meade-1101-story.html

So in conclusion, I have actually answered some of my own questions by searching the correct key words. I still have many unanswered though regarding the military members and their children who died. I find myself thinking of some of the headstones every so often, namely the "2 Unkowns". It makes me wonder just how many of these are in place around our country, headstones for "unknown" people.

For more information about our farm:
Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce

All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.

If you find this post useful or entertaining, your support is greatly appreciated by upvoting and sharing!

^{Learn how to join the Bytball WCG Distribution!}