JFK's GRAVESITE
WOMEN'S MEMORIAL EXHIBIT
July 21, 2011
Like the title says, this is just my opinion. But, since it's MY website, that's the only one you're gonna get.
We rode the Metro back into DC this morning, and went out to Arlington National Cemetery. We spent yesterday in DC, doing the tourist thing: Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Wall, etc. Great day, even though it was like walking in a sauna for all the humidity and heat. Anyway, today was Arlington.
Now, anyone who knows me knows one thing: I do not go to funerals. Yes, I have been to them, and will go to a few more in my lifetime, but my feelings on funerals and cemeteries is that the person is not really there, I can remember them and respect them in my own way. And, I don't want one when I die. That being said, I believe everyone should go to Arlington at least once during their life. Never mind the "famous" people: the Kennedys (John, Robert, Ted), President Taft, Generals MacArthur and Pershing, and so on. The real story is the rows and rows and (what seems like) miles of small white headstones...normal everyday people who served our country with honor and courage, some paying the ultimate price---their lives. And for all the thousands of people buried at Arlington, most Americans do not personally know anyone buried there.
Like the title says, this is just my opinion. But, since it's MY website, that's the only one you're gonna get.
We rode the Metro back into DC this morning, and went out to Arlington National Cemetery. We spent yesterday in DC, doing the tourist thing: Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Wall, etc. Great day, even though it was like walking in a sauna for all the humidity and heat. Anyway, today was Arlington.
Now, anyone who knows me knows one thing: I do not go to funerals. Yes, I have been to them, and will go to a few more in my lifetime, but my feelings on funerals and cemeteries is that the person is not really there, I can remember them and respect them in my own way. And, I don't want one when I die. That being said, I believe everyone should go to Arlington at least once during their life. Never mind the "famous" people: the Kennedys (John, Robert, Ted), President Taft, Generals MacArthur and Pershing, and so on. The real story is the rows and rows and (what seems like) miles of small white headstones...normal everyday people who served our country with honor and courage, some paying the ultimate price---their lives. And for all the thousands of people buried at Arlington, most Americans do not personally know anyone buried there.
AN UNBELIEVABLE NUMBER OF HEADSTONES...
INFANTRYMAN FROM THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
The headstones are impressive...simple, but elaborate enough to often give a story of the person buried underneath. We have all seen the pictures of Arlington...neat tidy rows of headtsone after headstone, the more elaborate grave markers and memorials marking some graves; but until you see it "in person", the reality does not hit you.
MEMORIALS AND HEADSTONES
CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
And the reality is this:
If it were not for all these people, we would not be here...able to enjoy the freedom that we have.
And, although I know the people in Arlington cannot hear me, I still say to them, "Thank You".
If it were not for all these people, we would not be here...able to enjoy the freedom that we have.
And, although I know the people in Arlington cannot hear me, I still say to them, "Thank You".
AND FINALLY:
it's hard to see here, but this is the headstone of Brigadier General William Quinton (1838-1916) and his wife (1842-1915); and right behind it is the headstone of his son, Major William Quniton (1870-1943) and his wife and daughter. We saw many of these "family" groups, but this is the only one we saw that was two generations of miltary officers