Corozal American Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 8.989238, -79.571913
Location: Ancón, Distrito de Panamá
Record count: 5,531

Ownership: American Battle Monuments Commission

Directions: Calle Rufina Alfaro, Edif. #6566, Corozal, Panama.

Background: Corozal American Cemetery was officially established in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter signed treaties with Panama that officially divided the former "Corozal Cemetery" into two parts, the present-day Corozal American Cemetery (formerly known as the "Gold Roll Cemetery"), to be administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission, and the present-day "Corozal Cemetery" (formerly known as the "Silver Roll Cemetery"), to be handed back to Panamanian control.

Corozal Cemetery was created in 1914 when the Isthmian Canal Commission designated two acres of land as a permanent cemetery. Prior to that, Americans and other workers of the old Panama Railroad were interred at Mt. Hope Cemetery (known as Monkey Hill Cemetery), located on the Atlantic side of the isthmus.

Mt. Hope Cemetery had originally been created for black West Indians working on the railroad, but some white Americans ended up being buried there. Once Corozal Cemetery was established, a "Gold Roll" section was created there, referring to white Americans who were paid in gold for their work along the canal. Whites formerly interred at Mt. Hope Cemetery were reinterred to the Gold Roll section of Corozal. Corozal also had a "Silver Roll" section for black West Indians, who were paid in silver.

On September 7, 1977, President Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos signed the two Torrijos-Carter Treaties, transferring the Canal to Panama by the end of the 20th Century. Fifteen months later, on January 19, 1979, President Carter issued Executive Order 12115 which officially split the Corozal Cemetery into two, renaming the Gold Roll section to "Corozal American Cemetery", and assigning control to the American Battle Monuments Commission, while the Silver Roll section was deeded to Panama and continues on today as "Corozal Cemetery".

Burial Records

• ABMC Burial Records, by Interment.net, October 30, 2019, (5,531 records)

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