Reagan Grants Boy’s Wish to Be Buried in Military Cemetery

Making a rare exception to federal law, President Reagan on Monday authorized the military burial of 15-year-old John Zimmerman of Fountain Valley, granting the boy’s last wish.

The youth died Jan. 18, three days after being made an honorary Marine in bedside ceremonies in his room at Fountain Valley Community Hospital.

The President was moved by a newspaper account of John’s devotion to the Marines and desire to be buried at the Military Cemetery of the Pacific near Honolulu, said Robin Gray, White House assistant press secretary.

“The President today (Monday) directed that the Veterans Administration grant John Zimmerman his dying wish,” Gray said.

John, who had suffered from muscular dystrophy since birth, was befriended by many Leathernecks. The ceremony in which he was made an honorary Marine was “the highlight of his life,” said his father, Richard Zimmerman.

But the boy’s dying wish was to be buried at the “Punchbowl” military cemetery near Honolulu. Sen. Pete Wilson’s office telephoned the Zimmermans early Monday morning to advise them that Reagan had granted the wish.

‘Helped All of Us’

“It’s kind of helped all of us still feel like we’re doing for John,” his mother, Sandra Zimmerman, said of the family’s efforts to fulfill their son’s request.

“We said all along there was no way” the request would be granted, she said Monday. “But if you ever said ‘no’ to John, he’d say, ‘Did you ask?’ ”

So after John’s death, Sandra Zimmerman and her husband decided to do as John would do.

“We’ll ask and see what happens,” she said.

John’s father, a real estate broker, wrote Wilson’s office Feb. 5 requesting the senator’s help, unaware that Wilson is a former Marine Corps officer. After determining that the Veterans Administration was powerless to make an exception unless directed to do so by the President, Wilson wrote the White House.

Burial in national cemeteries is a privilege legally reserved for military personnel, their spouses and children. Dean Holt, executive assistant to the VA chief of memorial affairs in Washington, said that only once before, in the case of a former U.S. ambassador, had a presidential order waived the regulations.

As the Zimmermans’ request was working its way through channels in the White House, Reagan read a newspaper account over the weekend of the boy’s dying wish, spokesmen for the White House and Wilson’s office said.

“This morning (Reagan) notified Edward V. Hickey Jr., assistant to the president for military affairs, of his decision,” said Lynda Royster, an aide to Wilson. “Hickey then issued a written authorization to Harry N. Walters, head of the VA.”

Arrangements Pending

The Zimmermans, whose son’s body was cremated, will be contacted later this week by the Veterans Administration to arrange the funeral, according to spokesmen in the senator’s office.

“The corps was his life,” Richard Zimmerman said of his son’s fondness for the Marines. “We think it’s great that the President has taken the time to realize how important this was to John. John would be very, very proud to know that the President knows who John Zimmerman was.”

His son, a freshman at Fountain Valley High School when he died, was a “strong Republican,” Zimmerman said. “He made a $25 contribution to Reagan’s (1984 reelection) campaign out of his own money.”

John was befriended by Marine counselors at Cuyamaca State Park several years ago when he attended a camp for muscular dystrophy victims. Later, recruiting sergeants Bob Menke and John Gorsuch came to know John, who was confined to a wheelchair, when he mailed in an enlistment application. It was John’s way of getting on the Marines’ mailing list to learn more about the corps, his father said.

Gorsuch delivered a eulogy at John’s memorial service, at which several uniformed Marines openly wept.

Menke, who had given John several Marine posters to decorate his room, offered to give up the national cemetery plot reserved for him in order that his young friend’s request might be granted. Veterans Administration officials said Menke’s offer could not legally be granted.

“I’m happy now,” Gorsuch said Monday after learning of Reagan’s decision. Then he excused himself to telephone Menke, who is on leave in Indiana.

“I think it’s fantastic,” John’s mother said. “We are so grateful and so excited. It fulfilled John’s wishes.”