(The Center Square) – Louisiana officials are working to protect a Korean War soldier’s exposed casket at a Baton Rouge cemetery.
State officials said the cemetery has lacked a license since 2000, and ownership remains unresolved.
The Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday that it was coordinating with other state agencies to repair the grave of Pfc. Samuel Pierre Jr. or relocate his remains. A brick burial structure at Sweet Olive Cemetery collapsed, leaving his casket exposed, according to the department.
According to the department’s review of a 1952 newspaper report, Pierre was 22 when he died in Korea on July 1 of the same year.
Responsibility for the work and its funding remains unresolved.
“The costs, and how they will be funded, will depend on the outcome of the legal process,” Daniele Palen of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs told The Center Square. “There will likely be no cost estimate until that process is complete.”
Palen said Louisiana law requires family consent or court approval to move or repair a grave and that the department does not control the timeline. She did not specify temporary protective measures already taken. The department’s research has not identified living immediate family members. Records reviewed by the department did not name a spouse, children or siblings. His mother died in 1970.
Two nonprofit organizations claim some control over the cemetery, but neither has provided evidence of property ownership, Louisiana Cemetery Board Director Jerry Sullivan told The Center Square.
Palen said the Cemetery Board advised that Sweet Olive has not been licensed since 2000. Sullivan identified the two groups as Friends of Sweet Olive Cemetery and Sweet Olive Cemetery Inc.
“Despite efforts to work with these groups for years, no license could be issued for these years as there has never been a completed application submitted that complies with law,” Sullivan said.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from Friends of Sweet Olive Cemetery. The Center Square could not locate current contact information for a representative of Sweet Olive Cemetery Inc.
The cemetery does not provide perpetual care, and state law does not require any particular group to maintain the cemetery or its individual graves, Sullivan said. He also said the board would review its records for complaints about the cemetery dating to 2000.
Families often assume responsibility for graves at cemeteries without perpetual care, Sullivan said. He added that grants may be available for tomb and burial vault repairs; he did not identify funding committed to Pierre’s grave.
Palen said department Secretary Charlton Meginley received detailed information about Pierre’s grave Oct. 14. The department contacted the Cemetery Board, the state Division of Archaeology and the attorney general’s office that day.
Sweet Olive’s 5 acres contain about 5,500 burials, including people who died while enslaved and their descendants, according to the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation's website. The organization placed Sweet Olive on its endangered places list in 2023, describing graves and vaults packed so tightly that moving through much of the cemetery requires stepping from one vault to another.
“Our fallen and their Gold Star families have given this country everything, and they deserve better than this,” Meginley said in the department’s announcement.