September 5, 2008 Ground broken at Sampson Cemetery

Today’s Snippet is another one best taken from the published articles.

Navy veteran Lewis Kime was one of the first sailors who received basic training at Sampson Naval Base before he headed to Guam in 1942 to serve in World War II.

On Saturday, Kime, 85, a Romulus native who was a deep-sea diver, was among nearly 200 veterans who attended the groundbreaking of the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Sampson State Park.

The cemetery site was home to the Naval Training Station at Sampson starting in 1942 and was later used as an Air Force Basic Training Center. Many of the more than 400,000 sailors who trained there went on to fight in every major naval battle in World War II. More than 300,000 airmen received their basic training at Sampson from 1950 to 1956.

“They trained here on the peaceful shores of Seneca Lake and the next day, they were on military vessels on their way to other countries, and they were here and in the air over Korea the next day,” he said.

Kime was among veterans representing the different service branches who were called on yesterday to use shovels and break ground symbolizing the project’s start, although Nozzolio told the 300 people on hand that “much work is still to be done” before the first veteran can be buried “on that hallowed ground.”

Finger Lakes Times article by CRAIG FOX    Sep 7, 2008 

For any who may wonder about a Covert connection to the Sampson Cemetery, several come quickly to mind.

One of Annette Bassette’s first nursing positions in this area was at the Sampson Hospital. She would often talk of needing roller skates to get from building to building.

In 1953 Franklin Bassette was a member of the Fire Department at Sampson. The Fire House is being remodeled into a visitor center.

From the Sampson Cemetery website, “The Cemetery's first committal service and burial took place in September that year. Mr. Clinton C. Van Gelder, a Korean War-era veteran who served in the Air Force from 1952 to 1956, died on Jan. 22, 2010, at the age of 77. He was laid to rest at Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Monday, Sept. 26, 2011.” [Mr. Van Gelder lived in the Town of Covert.]

A final connection.  Buried at the Sampson cemetery is granddaughter Dani Nelson’s great-grandfather, and her namesake, Daniel Marvin.

Photo by Karen Haas Nelson

Dewitt’s Diary, Friday, September 5, 1958

Temperature 64 degrees, cloudy. Some cooler today.

Took some sweet corn to town and a couple bushels of peaches.

Picked the Bartlett pear tree by the south porch, 4 bushels of pears from it.

Drove down to Lem’s but he did not come down from Rochester this evening.