Today, many decades later, I visit his gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery. I’m with bus loads of tourists and veterans; the mood is sombre as befits a cemetery, little talk is exchanged throughout the tour. The three Kennedy brothers, John, Robert and now Ted, are interred here.
Shortly before his death, JFK stood at the hillside location overlooking the cemetery toward the Lincoln Memorial and ironically commented, “I could stay here forever.”
His gravesite marker (John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1917-1963) is accented by an eternal flame requested by his wife. On his right is their infant son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (Aug. 7 1963 - Aug. 9 1963) On his left are Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) and daughter Arabella, the stillborn child born in August of 1956.
Above the Kennedy graves at the top of the hill sits Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial. People take photos and stare at the four grey slate markers. The flame was once inadvertently extinguished by a Catholic school contingent that applied too much “holy water,” but a quick-thinking employee re-lit the flame with his lighter. Veterans and military casualties from each of the nation’s wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Civil War to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.
Our open-air bus is quite slow with many vets in wheel chairs. Remarkably, each is systematically assisted into the bus, wheelchairs stacked at the back, and we wind our way through memorials to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to watch the changing of the guard ceremony.
More than four million people visit the cemetery annually, many to pay final respects at graveside services, 100 each week. I’m told that 25 graves are dug daily and this staggering factoid helps me realize the depth and breadth of U.S. military action throughout the world.
Only two presidents are buried here, JFK and William H. Taft. There are military and political notables (generals Sheridan, Pershing, Dolittle, Bradley, Taylor, admirals Rickover, Halsey, statesmen (John Foster Dulles, William Jennings Bryan), Supreme Court members (Holmes, Warren, Douglas, Marshall, Burger) exploration and space pioneers (Perry, Byrd, Chaffee, Grissom, Irwin) medical personnel (Hopkins, Reed) science and engineering (L’Enfant, the architect who designed Washington) and sports figures (Abner Doubleday and Joe Louis).
With more than 300,000 people buried here, the cemetery is involved with expansion projects. The Secretary of the Army approved a new policy, effective Jan. 1, 2009, that authorizes all soldiers killed in action by the enemy and who are being interred, inurned or memorialized at Arlington National Cemetery the option to receive full military funeral honours. These honours can include a caisson, band and a military escort.
Arlington National Cemetery has the second-largest number of people buried of any national cemetery in the United States, conducting 6,400 burials yearly. Largest of the 130 national cemeteries is the Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island, near Riverhead, N.Y., which conducts more than 7,000 burials each year.
In Section 27, I notice there are 3,800 former slaves interred, called “Contrabands” during the Civil War. Their headstones are designated with the word “Civilian” or “Citizen.”
We reach The Tomb of the Unknowns, made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 tonnes. The Tomb was completed and opened to the public April 9, 1932, at a cost of $48,000.
I watch several young mid-shipmen in white uniforms and caps visit The Memorial Amphitheatre where 5,000 visitors attend each of three major annual memorial services held on Easter, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. The cornerstone, laid Oct. 15, 1915, contains a copy of the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Flag (1915), designs and plans for the amphitheatre, L’Enfant’s map design of the city of Washington, D.C., an autograph of the amphitheatre commission, one of each U.S. coin in use in 1915, one of each U.S. postage stamp in use in 1915, a 1914 map of Washington, D.C., the Congressional Directory, Boyd’s City Directory for the District of Columbia, an autographed photo of President Woodrow Wilson, the cornerstone dedication program and the Evening Star newspaper account of the ceremonies, and the campaign to build the Amphitheatre, constructed mainly of Vermont-quarried Danby marble. The marble in the Memorial Display Room is imported Botticino, a stone mined in Italy.
The names of 44 U.S. battles from the American Revolution to the Spanish-American War are inscribed around the frieze above the colonnade.
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” (It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country) a quote from Horace, is etched above the west entrance of the Memorial Amphitheatre. I don’t know about the “sweet,” but the “fitting” certainly applies to this remarkable cemetery.
John Cooper Works Vintage Apparel CollectionWines to die for from ghoulish vines
