Arlington National Cemetery
May 18, 2006
The apartment I was staying at in Arlington, VA, is just around the corner from Arlington National Cemetery. On May 18, 2006, I headed there right after work to get some photos. I got there at about 5:30 in the afternoon, and found out that the cemetery closes at 7:00 pm. So I had about an hour and a half to get the photos I wanted to get. This map shows the locations of some of the things I got photos of, so you can see the walking I had to do in that hour and a half.
In the lower right-hand corner of the map you can see where I parked. I then walked through the Visitors Center, up to the President John F. Kennedy gravesite, up to Arlington House, then over to the Confederate Monument, down to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and after exploring this area a little, back down to the Visitors Center and the car.
Here is some information from Bernie. Bernie worked on the headstone crew from 1978 to 1986.
- Up in Sec. 34 there is an area where lots of WWII commanders are buried; Hap Arnold, some Navy Admirals, and Gen. Pershing from WWI [and his grandson KIA Vietnam.]
- Gen. Chennault [AVG-Flying Tigers] has a big stone monument up by the old Admin. building.
- The Admin folks can get info for you to locate Ira Hayes grave site. He was a Pima Indian and was one of the Marine flag raisers on Iwo Jima.
Section 34 in the map above is to the left of where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located. This map from the Arlington National Cemetary website is a lot clearer.
Above is the sign at the entrance to the cemetery.
In the photo above, you can see the "Women in Military Service to America Memorial."
In this photo montage are some views of the gravestones.
Here is the President John F. Kennedy gravesite, with its eternal flame.
Also buried here are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (America's Princess Di,) and two children (a son and a daughter) who died young.
On Dec. 4, 1963, the two deceased Kennedy children were reburied in Arlington, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy from Brookline, who had predeceased JFK by 15 weeks, and an unnamed stillborn daughter from Newport, R.I.
This is the simple grave of Robert Kennedy, the brother of the president, who was also assassinated.
Here is a photo of the inscription on Robert Kennedy's gravestone.
In this montage, you can see that not all of the gravestones are the simple white markers that you can see in my previous montage. I don't know what the process is for getting a more elaborate gravestone. I don't know who pays for them, the family or the government.
Looking up from the JFK gravesite you get this view of the Arlington House.
Near the Arlington House is this monument with the following inscription:
"BENEATH THIS STONE
REPOSE THE BONES OF TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN UNKNOWN SOLDIERS
GATHERED AFTER THE WAR
FROM THE FIELDS OF BULL RUN AND THE ROUTE TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK.
THEIR REMAINS COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED BUT THEIR NAMES AND DEATHS ARE
RECORDED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THEIR COUNTRY AND ITS GRATEFUL CITIZENS
HONOR THEM AS OF THEIR NOBLE ARMY OF MARTYRS MAY THEY REST IN PEACE
SEPTEMBER A. D. 1866"
This is the front of Arlington House.
From the National Park Service web site:
Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee and his family for thirty years and is uniquely associated with the Washington and Custis families.
George Washington Parke Custis, Lee's father-in-law, built the house between 1802 and 1818 to be his home as well as a memorial to George Washington, his step-grandfather.
Lee made his historic decision to resign from the US Army at Arlington House and wrote his resignation letter in his second floor bedchamber.
Arlington House, with its associated slave quarters and gardens, are now preserved as a memorial to Robert E. Lee, who gained the respect of Americans in both the North and the South and used his influence after the Civil War to help heal the nation.
In front of Arlington House, with a grand view of the city, is the grave of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, engineer, artist, soldier, who designed the layout of the city of Washington.
Behind Arlington House is the south slave quarters.
From the Arlington House, I walked over to the Confederate Monument, marking a section for the burial of Confederate soldiers. At first, it might seem strange to bury enemy soldiers in a place like this. But then you have to realize that these soldiers too were US citizens.
Here is the inscription at the base of the Confederate Monument.
Then I walked to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The tomb and its guard.
There is a changing of the guard every 30 minutes.
This montage shows some portions of the ceremony.
This is the Memorial Amphitheater, next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Across the road from the Memorial Amphitheater is this group of memorials, which you can see in the top left image of the montage above. On the top right is the memorial to the soldiers who died during the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission on April 25, 1980. On the bottom left is the memorial to the crew of the US Space Shuttle Challenger, which blew up on takeoff on January 28, 1986. And on the bottom right is the memorial to the crew of the US Space Shuttle Columbia which was destroyed on re-entry on February 1, 2003.
Above is a photo of the mast of the ship the USS Maine. This ship blew up in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, which was a critical event leading up to the Spanish-American war (21 April to 13 August 1898.)
This is the grave of Audie Murphy, the most decorated US Soldier during World War II. His gravestone is not large enough to list all of the decorations he won. After the war, he starred in a movie about his exploits, and then was in several other movies as well.
Also in Arlington is the grave of Admiral Richard Byrd, polar explorer, Medal of Honor winner.
This is the grave of Chappie James, the first black US four-star general.
And this is the equestrian statue of Sir John Dill, a British Field Marshall in World War II.
