Three Misspelled Gravestones And What We Can Learn From Them

In April, 2014, while attending a burial service for a relative at Riverside (CA) National Cemetery, Walt White, a Vietnam vet, noticed a typo on a headstone. And then another. And then a third.

“No trail to steep” 

“elegant Brithish lady” 

“Simper Fi” 

When you consider that simper means a silly, self-conscious smile, which is not even close to Semper Fidelis, 'Always Faithful', the motto of the US Marine Corp, you have to wonder how this headstone could have been put up, as written.

After the service Mr. White visited the admin office. He showed a cell phone picture of the marker memorialized with “Simper Fi” to the woman at the desk.

White was told that families generally come to the office to complete a form for the headstone inscription
immediately following a graveside service. What is put on the form is what is written on the headstone, and errors are not corrected on behalf of the family. The woman explained that it is not the duty of the National Cemetery to make changes to the family’s wishes.

Mr. White’s complaint fell on deaf ears, because policy dictates that only next of kin can request corrections.

When Dan Bernstein, staff columnist at The Press-Enterprise  received an email from White, he visited Riverside National Cemetery. After viewing the misspelled headstones, Bernstein spoke to the cemetery’s
public affairs chief.

It turned out that “Brithish” was an employee error. A new marker was ordered to replace the misspelled one.

As for Simper, it was the result of a contractor’s error. “Semper Fi” had been important to Gunnery Sgt. Kim Kermit Watrous, and his family had requested “Semper Fi” be inscribed on the marker. This fact was confirmed when the public affairs chief spoke to Watrous’ widow. Riverside National Cemetery set out to make the correction.

As it turns out, the correction had already been requested by a supervisor at the cemetery who also happened to be a Marine. The supervisor arrived in time to overhear White's earlier conversation with the woman at the admin desk. The Marine took one look at the picture and said, “We’ll get it changed, sir.”

Bernstein's report doesn't say how long these grave markers had stood there reflecting these errors. It may have been years or merely months. The Riverside National Cemetery is one of the most frequently visited veteran's cemeteries in the U.S., so it stands to reason that White and Bernstein weren't the first to notice the mistakes.

All of this just goes to show that, while a lot of us talk about honoring veterans, in order to truly honor them, sometimes we have to stand up and speak out, not taking no for an answer. If we truly care, then we shouldn't be content to see our country's defenders dishonored, whether the dishonor comes from a shoddy grave marker or an underfunded healthcare system.

It also goes to show that if we are determined enough to get something changed, because we care enough to do it, then we can and we will get it changed.

Semper Fi.