Visiting Historic Arlington Cemetery

by D. J. Mathews

I thought it appropriate to visit Arlington. Our first (so far only) trip to D. C., we spent three and a half days exploring the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital. We hit the high points – the National Mall museums (it’s not a shopping center),? the Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot, an Irish eatery in Georgetown, veterans’ monuments near the tall obelisk honoring President Washington, near the historic reflecting pool.

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Arlington Cemetery itself is unique and I’ve walked among those many uniform,? little white marble tombstones put in to commemorate those who served in the U. S. military. Special requirements only make certain people eligible to be buried there, but now space is limited. It is ironic that the land on which the cemetery was founded belonged to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. After the war headstones were placed as close as possible to his old house to make it basically unlivable. Many are buried on the 200 acre property. Lee did not go back to living there.

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By 1883, Lee’s son sold the property to Congress for $150,000. So much for that family property.

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The grounds are a bit sloping, with thousands of those little white tombstones about. We were there with another couple when there was the ceremony by an armed forces representative to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Somehow I also remember someone doing yard work, which created a buzzing ruckus with a garden machine of some kind (as this was in early May, before the Memorial Day commemoration).

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So why have war anyway? Isn’t it just a lot of unnecessary killing and death? This is a question you can ponder as you walk the manicured grounds.

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There “is” the eternal (small) flame at the crypt/grave of President John F. Kennedy, who was unfortunately killed by an assassin’s bullet, most likely from Lee Harvey Oswald, who had Russian sympathies. The flame was a disappointment but I recently learned it is now “electronic” and will not go out if it rains! Her wife, Jackie (Onassis) Kennedy is also buried there, and brother Robert Kennedy nearby.

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To me it is still weird that Arlington Cemetery land has the former home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who obviously lived somewhere else (first, in Richmond) after the Civil War ended.

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Pres. Biden has recently acknowledged the fact that many veterans suffer from PTSD and should have our sympathy. We “do” need to do more for our vets, and some are paid rather poorly. If they need a job, maybe they should be taking care of our state and national parks, which can always use more help. I hope to go to Lassen National Park, which seems to have a lot of snow now and not many people to call for help!

So, we honor our veterans at Arlington. But there are always ways to take care of those in the military for more positive outcomes. We just need to learn how (and prevent wars to begin with).

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