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Arlington National Cemetery

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Memorial Drive entering Arlington National Cemetery.
Map of Arlington Cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee's wife Mary. It is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., next to the present day location of The Pentagon, and is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.

Veterans from all the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

Arlington National Cemetery and U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery are administered by the Department of the Army. All other National Cemeteries are administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the National Park Service.

Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) and its grounds are administered by the National Park Service as a memorial to Robert E. Lee.

Tomb of the Unknowns

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and has never been officially named. The Tomb of the Unknowns stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C.

One of the more popular sites at the Cemetery, the Tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons (72 metric tons). The Tomb was completed and opened to the public April 9, 1932, at a cost of $48,000.

It was at first the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Other unknown servicemen were later buried there, and the name became "Tomb of the Unknowns."

The Tomb of the Unknowns is guarded by the U.S. Army 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The 3rd U.S. Infantry ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb April 6, 1948.

Memorial Amphitheater

The Tomb of the Unknowns is part of the Memorial Amphitheater. The Memorial Amphitheater has hosted state funerals and Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Ceremonies are also held for Easter. About 5,000 people attend these holiday ceremonies each year. The structure is mostly built of Danby marble from Vermont. The Memorial Display room, between the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns, uses Botticino stone, imported from Italy. The amphitheater was the result of a campaign by Ivory G. Kimbal to construct a place to honor America's soldiers. Congress authorized the structure March 4, 1913. Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone for the building on October 15, 1915. The cornerstone contained 15 items including a Bible and a copy of the Constitution.[1]

Photo of the Old Amphitheater

Before the Memorial Amphitheater was completed in 1921, important ceremonies were held at what is now known as the "Old Amphitheater." This structure sits where Robert E. Lee once had his gardens. The amphitheater was built in 1868 under the direction of General John A. Logan. Gen. James A. Garfield was the featured speaker at the Decoration Day dedication ceremony, May 30, 1868. The amphitheater has an encircling colonnade with a latticed roof that once supported a web of vines. The amphitheater has a marble dais, known as "the Rostrum," which is inscribed, E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"). The amphitheater seated 1,500 people and hosted speakers such as William Jennings Bryan.[2]

Other notable sites

Grave of John F. Kennedy
Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial
File:Maine Mast.jpg
The memorial to the USS Maine

Other frequently visited sites in the cemetery are the USMC War Memorial (commonly known as the "Iwo Jima Memorial") and the Netherlands Carillon (these sites are actually located adjacent to the cemetery), and the grave of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy is buried with his wife and two of their children. His grave is marked with an eternal flame. His brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, is also buried nearby.

The federal government dedicated a model community for freed slaves, Freedman's Village, near the current Memorial Amphitheater, December 4, 1863. More than 1,100 freed slaves were given land by the government, where they farmed and lived during and after the Civil War. They were turned out in 1890 when the estate was repurchased by the government and dedicated as a military installation.

In Section 27, there are buried more than 3,800 former slaves, called "Contrabands" during the Civil War. Their headstones are designated with the word "Civilian" or "Citizen".

Near the Tomb of the Unknowns stands a memorial to the 266 men who lost their lives aboard the USS Maine. The memorial is adorned by a mast salvaged from the wreckage.

The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial was dedicated on May 20, 1986 in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on 28 January 1986. Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem entitled High Flight. Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two of the crewmembers, Scobee and Smith, are buried in Arlington, as well. There is also a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003, dedicated on the first anniversary of the disaster.

There are memorials to those killed in two acts of terrorist violence:

  • The Pentagon memorial, which takes the shape of the Pentagon, is the memorial to the 184 victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The memorial lists the names of the 184 victims that were killed.
  • The cairn, the Lockerbie memorial, which is the memorial to the 270 killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The memorial is made up of 270 stones, one for each person killed in the disaster (259 on the plane, 11 on the ground). The fact that 189 of the victims were Americans made the bombing the worst single act of terrorist violence against Americans prior to the September 11 attacks.

The noted composer, arranger, trombonist, and Big Band leader Maj. Alton Glenn Miller of the U.S. Army Air Forces has been missing in action since Dec. 15, 1944. Miller was eligible for a memorial headstone in Arlington National Cemetery as a service member who died on active duty whose remains were not recoverable. At his daughter's request, a stone was placed in Memorial Section H, Number 464-A on Wilson Drive in Arlington National Cemetery in April 1992.

There are only two mausoleums located within the confines of the Cemetery. One is for the family of General Nelson Appleton Miles located in Section 3 and the other one belongs to the family of General Thomas Crook Sullivan and it is located in Section 1.

There is a Canadian Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the USA who lost their lives fighting in the Canadian forces during the Korean War and the two World Wars.

Burial procedures

The flag outside the Custis-Lee Mansion flying at half-staff

The flags in Arlington National Cemetery are flown at half-staff from a half hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.

Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average well over 20 a day. The Cemetery conducts approximately 5,400 burials each year. [3]

With more than 260,000 people interred there, Arlington National Cemetery has the second-largest number of people buried of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is the Calverton National Cemetery, on Long Island, near Riverhead, New York, which conducts more than 7,000 burials each year.

In addition to in-ground burial, Arlington National Cemetery also has one of the larger columbariums for cremated remains in the country. Four courts are currently in use, each with 5,000 inches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 inches; capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium.

Notable burials

Notable military figures

As of May 2006, there were 367 Medal of Honor recipients buried in Arlington National Cemetery[1], nine of whom are Canadians.

Wartime service members with other distinguished careers

Notable civilians

  • Julian Bartley, Sr. (54), and his son Jay Bartley (20), killed together in the US Embassy, Nairobi terrorist attack.
  • Dana Falkenberg (3), who was killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Buried in a mass grave with four others.
  • Michael P. Hammer, American Foreign Service officer captured and murdered by guerillas in El Salvador.
  • Marie Teresa Rios Versace, author of Fifteenth Pelican, basis for The Flying Nun television show.
  • Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993),US Supreme Court Justice
  • William Rehnquist, Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Harry Blackmun, US Supreme Court Justice
  • William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice
  • Potter Stewart, US Supreme Court Justice

On July 24, 1998, U.S. Capitol Police Officers John Michael Gibson, 42, and Jacob Joseph Chestnut, 58, were killed in the line of duty and granted burials at the Cemetery.

Whether or not they were wartime service members, presidents and defense secretaries are eligible to be buried at Arlington, since they oversaw the armed forces.

Three state funerals have been held at Arlington: those of presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, and that of General of the Armies John Pershing.

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  1. ^ Medal of Honor Recipients Buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery. (retrieved April 9, 2006)
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