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'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 Anna Custis Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., near to the location of The Pentagon, and is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.
More than 300,000 persons are buried here on 624 acres. Veterans from every one of 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 United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery are administered by the Department of the Army. The other National Cemeteries are administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs or by the National Park Service.
Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) and its grounds are administered by the National Park Service as a memorial to Lee.

Contents

History

Burial criteria

Historical

Today

Tomb of the Unknowns

Arlington Memorial Amphitheater

Other notable sites

Burial procedures

Notable burials

Notable military figures

Wartime service members with other distinguished careers

Notable civilian citizens

See also

References

External links

History

Traditionally, American military cemeteries developed from the duty of commanders on the frontier and in battle to care for their casualties. When the Civil War casualties overflowed hospitals and burial grounds near Washington, D.C., Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs proposed in 1864 that 200 acres of the Robert E. Lee family property at Arlington be taken for a cemetery. "The grounds about the mansion", Meigs wrote, "are admirably adapted to such a use." Burials had in fact begun at Arlington before the ink was even blotted on Meigs's proposal. By war's end, 16,000 graves filled the spaces close to the house. Heir to the property Custis Lee sued the government claiming that he owned the land. After the Supreme Court ruled in Lee's favor, Congress paid him $150,000 for title to the land. Arlington is not the largest national cemetery, but is possibly the most well-known.

Burial criteria

Historical

Today

The persons specified below are eligible for ground burial in Arlington National Cemetery.^[1] The last period of active duty of former members of the Armed Forces must have ended honorably. Interment may be casketed or cremated remains.

★ Any active-duty member of the Armed Forces (except those members serving on active duty for training only).

★ Any veteran who is retired from active military service with the Armed Forces.

★ Any veteran who is retired from the Reserves is eligible upon reaching age 60 and drawing retired pay; and who served a period of active duty (other than for training).

★ Any former member of the Armed Forces separated honorably prior to October 1, 1949 for medical reasons and who was rated at 30% or greater disabled effective on the day of discharge.

★ Any former member of the Armed Forces who has been awarded one of the following decorations:

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★ Medal of Honor

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★ Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross

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★ Distinguished Service Medal

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★ Silver Star

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★ Purple Heart

★ The President of the United States or any former President of the United States.

★ Any former member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and who held any of the following positions:

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★ An elective office of the U.S. Government

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★ Office of the Chief Justice of the United States or of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

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★ An office listed, at the time the person held the position, in 5 USC 5312 or 5313 (Levels I and II of the Executive Schedule).

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★ The chief of a mission who was at any time during his/her tenure classified in Class I under the provisions of Section 411, Act of 13 August, 1946, 60 Stat. 1002, as amended (22 USC 866) or as listed in State Department memorandum dated March 21, 1988.

★ Any former prisoner of war who, while a prisoner of war, served honorably in the active military, naval, or air service, whose last period of military, naval or air service terminated honorably and who died on or after November 30, 1993.

★ The spouse, widow or widower, minor child, or permanently dependent child, and certain unmarried adult children of any of the above eligible veterans.

★ The widow or widower of:

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★ a member of the Armed Forces who was lost or buried at sea or officially determined to be missing in action.

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★ a member of the Armed Forces who is interred in a US military cemetery overseas that is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

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★ a member of the Armed Forces who is interred in Arlington National Cemetery as part of a group burial.

★ The surviving spouse, minor child, or permanently dependent child of any person already buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

★ The parents of a minor child, or permanently dependent child whose remains, based on the eligibility of a parent, are already buried in ANC. A spouse divorced from the primary eligible, or widowed and remarried, is not eligible for interment.

★ Provided certain conditions are met, a former member of the Armed Forces may be buried in the same grave with a close relative who is already buried and is the primary eligible.

Tomb of the Unknowns

Main articles: Tomb of the Unknowns


The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It stands on top of 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 initially named the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Other unknown servicemen were later buried there, and it became known as the "Tomb of the Unknowns", though it has never been officially named. The soldiers buried there are:

★ Unknown Soldier of World War I, interred November 11, 1921. President Warren G. Harding presided.

★ Unknown Soldier of World War II, interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight D. Eisenhower presided.

★ Unknown Soldier of the Korean War, also interred May 30, 1958. President Dwight Eisenhower presided again, Vice President Richard Nixon acted as next of kin.

★ Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War, interred May 28, 1984. President Ronald Reagan presided. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were disinterred, under the authority of President Bill Clinton, on May 14, 1998, and were identified as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose family had him reinterred near their home in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been determined that the crypt at the Tomb of the Unknowns that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain empty.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is perpetually guarded by the U.S. Army. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb April 6, 1948.

Arlington Memorial Amphitheater

The Tomb of the Unknowns is part of the Arlington 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 Imperial 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 Kimball 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]
Before the Arlington 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 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 with the U.S. national motto found on the Great Seal of the United States, ''E pluribus unum'' ("Out of many, one"). The amphitheater seats 1,500 people and hosted speakers such as William Jennings Bryan. [2]

Other notable sites

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. He was placed here March 14, 1967. His grave is marked with an eternal flame. His brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, is also buried nearby. His grave is marked by a simple wooden cross.
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 ''Maine's'' other mast is erected at the United States Naval Academy, making the ''Maine'' the "longest ship in the Navy" in Naval Academy tradition.) The Maine Memorial has served as the temporary resting place for foreign heads of state allied with the United States who died in exile in the United States during World War II, pending the return of their remains to their homeland. These were Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippines and Ignacy Jan Paderewski of Poland.
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 crew members, 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.
On a knoll just south of Arlington House, with views of the Washington Monument and Capitol, is a memorial to Pierre-Charles L'Enfant the architect who laid out the city of Washington. His remains lay below a marble memorial incised with his plan for the city. L'Enfant envisioned a grand neoclassical capital city for the young republic that would rival the capitals of European monarchies.
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 all the 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 act of terrorist violence against Americans prior to 9/11.
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 December 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.
The ''Women in Military Service for America Memorial'' can be found at the Ceremonial Entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
Also, in the cemetery, there is a Confederate section with graves of soldiers of the Confederate States of America and a Confederate Memorial. [3]

Site	Coordinates
Tomb of the Unknowns
Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
USMC War Memorial
Netherlands Carillon
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
Robert F. Kennedy
USS Maine memorial
Space Shuttle Challenger memorial

Burial procedures

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. [4]
With more than 290,000 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 niches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 niches; capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium.

Notable burials

Notable military figures

★ Creighton Abrams (1914-1974), United States Army General who commanded U.S. military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968-1972

★ "Hap" Arnold (1886-1950), first General of the Air Force

★ Gordon Beecher (1904-1973), United States Navy Vice Admiral and composer

★ Jeremy Michael Boorda (1939 -1996), US Navy Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations

★ Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981), commanded the 12th Army Group in Europe during World War II, first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

★ Ruby G. Bradley (1907-2002), Colonel and, with 34 medals, one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history

★ Miles Browning (1897-1954), World War I and World War II Navy officer and hero of the Battle of Midway

★ Roger Chaffee (1935-1967) and Gus Grissom (1926-1967), astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire (Edward White was buried at West Point)

★ William Henry Christman (1843?-1864), Union Civil War soldier, first soldier buried at Arlington, May 13 1864^[3]

★ Bertram Tracy Clayton (1862-1918), Congressman from New York, killed in action in 1918

★ Louis Cukela (1888-1956), Marine Corps Major, awarded two Medals of Honor for same act in World War I

★ Gerald F. DeConto (1957-2001), United States Navy captain, killed at the Pentagon during the September 11 attacks

★ Jane Delano (1862-1919), Director, Army Nursing Corps

★ Sir John Dill (1881-1944) , British Diplomat and Field Marshal

★ William J. Donovan (1883-1959), Major General and Chief of the OSS during World War II

★ Abner Doubleday (1819-1893), Civil War general erroneously credited with inventing baseball

★ Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes and Michael Strank: three of the six Marines immortalized in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photo ''Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'' (Strank was killed in action just days after the photo was taken)

★ David Haskell Hackworth (1930–2005), Colonel and most decorated American soldier

★ William "Bull" Halsey (1882-1959), World War II Navy five-star Fleet Admiral

★ Kara Spears Hultgreen (1965–1994), the first female naval carrier-based fighter pilot

★ Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr. (1920-1978), USAF, first African American four-star General in the U.S. Armed Forces

★ Philip Kearny (1815-1862), "fearless" one-armed cavalry general killed at Chantilly during the Civil War

★ Włodzimierz B. Krzyżanowski (1824-1887), Polish military leader and Civil War Union general

★ Mark Matthews (1894-2005), last surviving Buffalo Soldier

★ Francis Lupo (1895-1918), Private killed in France during World War I; holds the distinction of possibly being the longest U.S. service member missing in action to be found (1918-2003)

★ David McCampbell (1910-1996), Captain, the US Navy's top World War II Ace with 34 kills

★ Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (1816-1892), Brigadier General. Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House and appropriated the grounds on June 15, 1864 for use as a military cemetery. His intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. A stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and containing the remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties, was among the first monuments to Union dead erected under Meigs' orders. Meigs himself was later buried within 100 yards of Arlington House with his wife, father and son.

★ Glenn Miller (1904-1944), Major and well known band leader who disappeared over the English Channel while flying to Paris.

★ Audie Murphy (1924-1971), U.S. Army, America's most decorated combat soldier of World War II and popular movie actor

★ John J. Pershing (1860-1948), America's first General of the Armies, commanded American forces in World War I

★ Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977), American U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960

★ John Aaron Rawlins (1831-1869), Civil War general, chief of staff and later Secretary of War to Ulysses S. Grant

★ Alfred C. Richmond (1902-1984), Commandant of the United States Coast Guard

★ Hyman G. Rickover (1900-1986), father of the Nuclear Navy

★ Philip Sheridan (1831-1888), commanding general, Union Army, Civil War

★ Larry Thorne (1919-1965) , Finnish soldier who served in the US special forces and was a World War II veteran; called "soldier who fought under three flags (Finland, Germany and USA)"

★ Matt Urban (1919-1995), Colonel, U.S Army, most highly decorated soldier for valor in the history of the US Military

★ Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV (1883-1953), Major General, hero of Bataan and Corregidor; highest ranking POW in World War II

★ Robert Webb (1922-2002), B-17 Flying Fortress pilot

★ Joseph Wheeler (1836–1906), served as a Major General for two opposing forces: the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War

★ Orde Charles Wingate (1903–1944) , British major general, creator and commander of the Chindits

★ Clark H. Woodward (1877-1968), Vice Admiral, served in five wars: the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Boxer Rebellion and both World Wars

★ Charles Young (1864-1922), first African-American Lieutenant colonel in the US Army
As of May 2006, there were 367 Medal of Honor recipients buried in Arlington National Cemetery,^[4] nine of whom are Canadians.

Wartime service members with other distinguished careers

★ Hugo Black, Justice U.S. Supreme Court.

★ William Brennan, Justice U.S. Supreme Court.

★ Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce.

★ William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State, three time Presidential Candidate and popular orator.

★ Bill Buckley, CIA Station Chief murdered in Beirut.

★ Clark Clifford, Secretary of Defense and advisor to four Presidents.

★ Dwight F. Davis, Secretary of War, established the Davis Cup.

★ John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State.

★ Medgar Evers, Civil Rights activist.

★ Dashiell Hammett, author.

★ Grace Hopper, Rear Admiral and pioneer computer scientist.

★ Robert G. Ingersoll, political leader and popular orator, noted for his agnosticism.

★ Frank Kowalski, United States Representative from Connecticut and World War II Army veteran.

★ Pierre Charles L'Enfant , military engineer, architect and urban planner who designed the city of Washington, D.C.

★ Robert Todd Lincoln, Secretary of War.

★ Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion.

★ Allard Lowenstein, U.S. Congressman from New York. [5]

★ John Roy Lynch, former Slave, Major US Army and Member of Congress.

★ Mike Mansfield, longest serving Senate Majority Leader and Ambassador to Japan.

★ Lee Marvin, former US Marine and actor.

★ Bill Mauldin, political cartoonist.

★ John C. Metzler, Sergeant in World War II and former superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery from 1951-1972. His son, John C. Metzler, Jr. is the current superintendent (1991-present).

★ Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York.

★ Spottswood Poles, perhaps the greatest outfielder of the Negro Leagues.

★ William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.

★ Earl W. Renfroe, orthodontist who helped originate the concept of preventive and interceptive orthodontics.

★ Frank Reynolds, television news anchorman.

★ Johnny Micheal Spann, CIA officer killed in Afghanistan.

★ Samuel S. Stratton, fifteen-term U.S. Representative from New York.

★ William Howard Taft, Secretary of War, President and Chief Justice of the United States.

★ George Westinghouse, Civil War veteran and founder of Westinghouse Electric.

★ Harvey W. Wiley, first Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and "Father" of the Pure Food and Drug Act.

★ Charles Willeford, World War II veteran and author.

Notable civilian citizens

★ Julian Bartley, Sr. (54) and his son Jay Bartley (20), killed together in the U.S. Embassy at Nairobi terrorist attack.

★ Harry Blackmun, Thurgood Marshall, William O. Douglas and Potter Stewart, four U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

★ Leslie Coffelt, secret service member killed fighting off would-be-assassins of President Harry S. Truman.

★ Dana Falkenberg (3), who was killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Buried in a mass grave with her mother, father, and older sister.

★ Michael P. Hammer, Foreign Service officer captured and murdered by guerrillas in El Salvador.

★ Phyllis Kirk, famous TV and film actress.

★ James Parks, the only person buried at Arlington Cemetery who was born on the grounds.

★ Marie Teresa Rios , author of ''Fifteenth Pelican'', basis for The Flying Nun television show.

★ United States Capitol Police Officers John Gibson and Jacob Chestnut were killed in the line of duty and granted burials at the cemetery.
Whether or not they were wartime service members, U.S. Presidents 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 John J. Pershing.

See also

★ United States Air Force Memorial

★ USMC War Memorial

★ Netherlands Carillon

★ Pentagon Memorial

References

1. Eligibility for Interment (Ground Burial)
2. Location of Arlington House flagpole: Hybrid satellite image/street map from WikiMapia
3. The Nation's Cemetery, Atkinson, Rick, , , National Geographic Magazine, June 2007
4. Medal of Honor Recipients Buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery. (retrieved April 9, 2006)

External links

★ Official site

★ National Park Service site

★ Interment Information

★ ArlingtonCemetery.net

★ Memorial Day Ceremony at Arlington Cemetery

★ Virtual Tour of the Cemetery

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★ Hybrid satellite image/street map from WikiMapia