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He didn't introduce himself. He didn't have to. President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone. This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop - a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America's "honored dead" - after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a...

Veterans listen to U.S. President Barack Obama speak during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia November 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES POLITICS MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

“People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” George Orwell Veteran’s Day is a time to remember “All gave some….Some gave all.”Before reaching the new gravestones in Arlington National Cemetery’s ‘Section 60’ it’s easy to recognize why a simple, quilted, patch of green grass and white stones buried alongside the quiet banks of the Potomac River troubles the heart.Names etched into fresh marble tell the sad tale of early death …Travis L. Youngblood…. Justin Ray Davis….Andy D. Anderson….Thomas J. Barbieri Jr….. Kenneth E. Zeigler II….James R. McIlvaine …....

<p>Barack Obama's speech commemorating Veterans Day at Arlinton Cemetery this morning was received with stony silence by those in attendance.</p> <p>What should have been applause lines for Obama about caring for our veterans drew no cheers, no clapping and no 'hooahs'.</p>

The fight over Robert E. Lee's beloved home—seized by the U.S. government during the Civil War—went on for decades Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Battle-of-Arlington.html#ixzz0UvYZZAfo

September 15th -October 15th is Hispanic History Month.

Mourners gather at the coffin of Sen. Edward Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Kennedy, 77, died Tuesday, Aug. 25 more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Here is a CNN report showing the location in Arlington National Cemetery where Sen. Ted Kennedy is being buried today. He will be buried near the graves of his two brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy - both of whom were assassinated. The hillside location looking out over he cemetery and toward the Lincoln Memorial is where President John Kennedy stood just shortly before his assassination and said, "I could stay here forever." . . . . . (Watch Video)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009; 4:31 PM Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the political patriarch who died late Tuesday after a 15-month battle with brain cancer, will be buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery, close to the famed gravesites of his slain brothers. As tributes poured in Wednesday from across the country and the world, Washington mourned the Massachusetts Democrat whose outsize personality and political skills continued to drive the health-care debate even in his final days. Flags were ordered flown at half-staff at the U.S. Capitol, the White House and federal buildings. Across the Potomac River at the nation's military cemetery,...

Just heard on noon news that Kennedy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. What an insult to our troops!

A U.S. defense official confirms that the late Ted Kennedy will be buried at Arlington Cemetery -- date and time still TBD. The official expects he will be buried at the John F. Kennedy gravesite, but that is also still TBD. Any sitting or former senator is eligible for burial at Arlington Cemetery, but Kennedy's military service alone does not qualify him for burial there since he did not retire from the Armed Forces. His military service alone only qualifies him to be cremated and inurned at the Columbarium at Arlington

The families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are being told to wait -- sometimes two months -- until their loved ones can be buried with full honors in Arlington National Cemetery. The hallowed memorial site, which handles up to 27 burials a day, is so overwhelmed with the bodies of elderly veterans and young soldiers that families are told they'll have to go without full-honors ceremonies if they want a timely burial, according to a spokesman.

July 17, 2009 | A few days after Memorial Day, I walked across the sprawling, plush lawn of Arlington National Cemetery. I headed toward Section 60, a remote area of the famous burial ground, where 600 service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest. Gina Gray, former public affairs officer at the cemetery, had testified that mismanagement at Arlington had resulted in callous treatment of personal mementos and artifacts left on grave sites in Section 60. The sun was out after several days of rain. As I approached the gravestones, I saw that Gray was right. Left out...

President Barack Obama lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Memorial Day commemorations at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., May 25, 2009. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeleyI yearn to be able to respect a president I have political differences with. To be able to find common ground as fellow Americans and on occasions such as Memorial Day, out of respect for the office of the presidency, applaud his speech and say, "Well done, Mr. President; well done! We may differ politically, but today I stand with you!" So why am...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama avoided a racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to separate memorials for Confederate soldiers and for blacks who fought against them during the Civil War. Last week, a group of about 60 professors petitioned the White House, asking the first black U.S. president to break tradition and not memorialize military members from the Confederacy, the group of Southern states that supported slavery. "The Arlington Confederate Monument is a denial of the wrong committed against African-Americans by slave owners, Confederates and neo-Confederates, through the monument's denial of slavery as...

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2009 – More than 3,000 servicemembers officially kicked off the Memorial Day commemoration last evening as they placed more than 250,000 miniature flags at every grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Airman Jacob Proffer, a member of the Air Force Honor Guard, pauses to salute a grave after placing a miniature flag at its base during the “Flags In” tribute at Arlington National Cemetery, May 21, 2009. “When I do this, it makes me take a lot more pride every time I put on my uniform, seeing the measure of sacrifice so many have made,” he said....

 Photo credit: Marooned in Marin It's been six years since President Bush launched an attack on - not Iraq, not Bagdad, not a country and its people, but - Saddam Hussein -- Saddam Hussein and; those who would attack the U.S. And on this anniversary day, Brian Becker, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) or cANSWER ("CANCER") as we like to call it, organized his scruffy, useless, parasitic contingent to march on Washington once again. The DC Chapter has been there each time to counter protest. In the early years, cANSWER was able round up great...

A.N.S.W.E.R. will be in D.C. once again this March 21, 2009 for their march on the Pentagon. Gathering of Eagles/Eagle Up will already have Eagles watching over the various Military Monuments and recruiter stations. If you want to help in this endeavor, contact concretebob. But if you want to help protect the sanctity of Arlington Cemetery, we will be there. FreeRepublic, along with any one who will join us, will once again occupy an area on the Virginia side of the Memorial Bridge on the south side of Arlington Circle. DATE: Saturday, March 21 TIME: 11:30AM to 4PM PLACE: South...

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va., Aug. 25, 2008 – It started as a leap of faith, but more than 10 million steps later, a 10-man relay team arrived here, at what the memorial run’s organizer called the most sacred place in America. Shannon Cleary, center, kisses her mother, Marianne Cleary, Aug. 24, 2008, during the last few moments of Run for the Fallen, a memorial run in memory of Cleary's brother, Army 1st Lt. Michael Cleary. Jack Flanagan, Marianne’s grandson, also participated in the last day of the living memorial that began June 14, outside the gates of Fort Irwin,...

ARLINGTON WEBSITE We must ask ourselves if we are living our lives to demonstrate that we deserve their sacrifice. Are we going to preserve that which they gave everything to defend?

As in most matters, however, the military prefers to focus on cohesion rather than dissension; on the ties that bind rather than the walls that separate. This is as true of funerals as it is of boot camp. Most people are aware of one aspect of this, the Honor Guard. But there is another unifying element, much less publicized than the 21-gun salute, but just as important in both a practical and symbolic sense. It comes in the form of a conservatively dressed woman who -- whether amongst a throng of mourners, seated alongside the family, or standing as the...

Army Pfc. William Timothy Dix died in Iraq in April and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on a brilliant May afternoon. He was laid to rest in Section 60, where the sod is fresh and the nearby tombstones bear names such as Justin, Brandon and Ashly: soldiers young enough to be named in the 1980s but old enough to die for their country. Pfc. Dix was buried with standard military honors: a lone bugler at a 45-degree angle from the casket, the Old Guard with a rifle salute, a somber chaplain and the flag presentation to his family. It...

Old Guard Soldier Master Sgt. Steven Colbert places a flag on a gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. This year he brought along his son, Jordan, 8, to assist. Photo by Adam Skoczylas FORT MYER, Va. (Army News Service, May 23, 2008) -- The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) began their rounds Thursday afternoon to place a small American flag into the ground in front of every grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery. The Old Guard became the Army's official ceremonial unit in 1948 and on that Memorial Day every available member of the regiment stood one foot in...

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2008 – More than 3,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines officially kicked off the Memorial Day commemoration last evening as they placed 265,000 miniature flags at every grave at Arlington National Cemetery. U.S. Army Master Sgt. Sandra Quaschnick, right, and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jennifer Bailey, left, render salutes during the "Flags In" ceremony to honor fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., May 22, 2008. Quaschnick and Bailey are assigned to the Fife and Drum Corps of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, "The Old Guard." Defense Dept. photo by Sebastian J. Sciotti Jr.  (Click photo for...

Frank Buckles apparently doesn't intend to take the offer any time soon. At 107, he still does 50 sit ups a day and lifts weights three times a week. (MILWAUKIE, Ore.) - Ken Buckles, Executive Director of Oregon's Remembering America's Heroes, has won a long-fought battle – a battle centered around World War One. For twelve years, Buckles has been recognizing and honoring American Vets through his program at Milwaukie High School where he is also a teacher. But this time it was personal. Ken Buckles is related to Frank Buckles, America's last living WWI Veteran.

This is the final Itinerary for the Patriot Guard Mission to honor SPC Keisha M. Morgan, USA, 25, Washington, DC, who gave all on February 22, 2008. It is a go, all contacts have been made. This is a two-part mission. Your ride captain is Kevin Rock, who can be reached at (410) 867-8882. Part I - Sunday, March 2, 2008: 1345 hrs Staging at the Centre at Forestville in front of JC Penny’s on the corner of MD-Rte-4 and Donnell Drive just inside the beltway. From the beltway I-95 take exit-11, MD-Rte-4-North/Washington. Take your second right - Donnell Drive....

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 16, 2007 – They came from around the country, some with tears in their eyes, putting holiday demands on hold to honor veterans most never knew. In a few hours in freezing temperatures, about 3,000 volunteers yesterday placed more than 10,000 balsam fir wreaths with blazing red bows on graves at Arlington National Cemetery here. “I wish I could lay one on all of them,” said Charles Wright, a Vietnam War Marine veteran and commander of the Kansas City Composite Squadron, a civil air patrol unit. “This is a tribute I’ll remember forever.” Morrill Worcester, owner...

Airmen, civilians lay wreaths at Arlington http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123013643 by Senior Airman J.G. Buzanowski Air Force Print News 12/19/2005 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Despite the cold, wind and snow, about 75 people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 15 to lay more than 5,000 wreaths on gravesites, including four at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Since 1992, members of the armed forces, civil air patrol, veterans of foreign wars and several civilians have gathered to take part in the project, a brainchild of Maine resident Morrill Worcester. Mr. Worcester owns and operates a holiday decoration company. Thirteen years ago he...

12/7/2007 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- Veterans' memorials and gravesites across the nation will be adorned with remembrance wreaths on Dec. 15 in stirring, solemn tributes to the courage and sacrifice of those who have guarded and preserved the nation throughout history. Through Wreaths Across America, Civil Air Patrol members join with Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, in remembering the nation's departed veterans. CAP units will lead 132 of the 268 observances this year, and will participate with other color and honor guards in approximately 25 additional locations. This year, for the first time ever, members...

Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington has for 15 years been donating wreaths and decorating the graves of 4,500 veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This year's convoy from Maine to Virginia is slated to be the biggest, with between 50 and 300 vehicles joining along various sections of the route. On Sunday, Dec. 9, more than 10,000 donated Christmas wreaths will make their way down Route 1 from Harrington. Rockland Police Officer John Bagley will be escorting the convoy from Harrington through to South Portland. And as the wreath-loaded tractor trailer passes through Rockport Sunday, the Rockland Fire...

On a cold December day, a crowd of more than 1,000 volunteers—from civilians and soldiers to toddlers and senior citizens—waits quietly, solemnly at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. In the distance they hear the low rumble of a tractor-trailer filled with 5,000 wreaths as it bursts through the morning’s dense fog making its way toward them. As the trailer comes to a stop, it marks the completion of a 750-mile journey from Harrington, Maine (pop. 882), to Arlington, where volunteers prepare to honor our nation’s departed heroes by adorning their graves with wreaths. The creator of the annual holiday...

This afternoon President Bush honored fallen soldiers at the National Memorial Ceremony in Waco, TXTransript Vice President Cheney to veterans of the Iraq war, honoring them for keeping the United States democratic and free and hoping "they will return in victory."Transcript of Vice President Cheney’s remarks Enoy your visit to Sanity Island

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 11, 2007 – Vice President Richard B. Cheney today remembered millions of veterans at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month at Arlington National Cemetery. Navy veteran Neil Koski, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Honor Guard, pulls on his gloves prior to the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11, 2007. Koski and other members of the honor guard passed out programs prior to the ceremony. Photo by Melinda L. Larson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “More than 20 million of our fellow citizens...

December 12, 1997 At 10:30 on Thursday morning at Arlington National Cemetery, a team of gravediggers quietly dug up the remains of Larry Lawrence and carted away his granite tombstone, which was engraved with lies. Chiseled in stone were claims that Lawrence, the late millionaire businessman who became an ambassador, had served in the U.S. merchant marine and had earned the designation of “S1C,” the Navy abbreviation for seaman, first class, which would not have been given to a merchant mariner anyway. Neither claim was true. During his 69-year lifetime, Lawrence fabricated his World War II heroics, his education, how...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070922/METRO/109220035/1001 The Army is proposing to replace the Tomb of the Unknowns' 48-ton white marble monument because of non-structural cracks. A senator has introduced legislation that would prohibit the Army from replacing the 71-year-old marble sarcophagus marking the Tomb of the Unknowns before submitting to Congress a report on the feasibility of repairing the monument. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat and chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced the measure Thursday as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. "The senator wants to make sure before anything irrevocable is done, that we cross all our t"s and dot...

ORONO, Maine -- Charles Frank Burlingame III was the pilot flying American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon with 64 people onboard. It is believed Burlingame helped divert the plane from its original destination -- the White House -- by literally fighting off the terrorists in the cockpit. In an FBI report released after the crash, it was revealed that the pilot died of injuries sustained before the plane hit the ground. Burlingame's family has requested that he be buried in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, an honor bestowed only on soldiers and their families. ...

"Help Save the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery It's hard to believe, but officials at Arlington National Cemetery plan to replace the original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a new replica solely because of repairable cosmetic imperfections. This 1932 monument is nationally significant and eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The 48-ton marble block has two nonstructural cracks which pose no threat to visitors or the historic structure. Surprisingly, federal administrators want the replica carved from new stone that experts agree will likely again crack along its grain just as marble...

Has anyone ever been down to Arlington Cemetary for Memorial Day ceremonies? If so what was it like and is it worth driving 5 hours to attend? Thanks!

“Words can’t describe it.” “Words can’t describe it.” A simple reply from my 9 year old son, when asked what the funeral for Lloyd Ball had meant to him. We were on our way home from Arlington, and I wondered out loud if he had understood the depth of what he had just witnessed. SSgt Lloyd Ball passed away on April 7th in Monroeville. His obituary listed the customary information found in the rest of the obituaries that day. And like many of the people of “The Greatest Generation” it also contained reference to his military service in World War...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

[There an extra subject at the end of this. It has nothing to do with the main subject, but needed to be mentioned this week.] Before Thursday, I had never attended any ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. On that day, we went to Arlington for the inurnment of the ashes of a great friend, colleague, and teacher, Robert Carleson. I’ve written about Bob before, and any reader can find several find obituaries on him from months ago, when he died. Suffice to say, Bob did more for the long-term well-being of the United States than many who have served as...

ARLINGTON, Va. There are cracks in the white marble Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, and each year, those cracks go farther and deeper. The 74-year-old monument is not in danger of crumbling any time soon. But the cemetery is deciding whether to patch the fissures or replace the marble altogether. The tomb has been patched repeatedly, most recently in 1989. John Metzler, the cemetery's superintendent, says the cemetery could repair it, do nothing or buy an extra marble block and store it as a standby. He worries that some of the carved sculptures could eventually fall off....

Honor Roll: 3D-Joy; Uncle Hambone; Nicolio9175; OBone; W04Man; Jimmy Valentine's brother; trooprally, Tolerance Sucks Rocks; concretebob; Gunsareok; Just A Nobody; Christopher Lincoln; Gate2Wire; Cindy_True_Supporter; Trueblackman; Lurker Bill; two of 3d-Joy's daughters; and kristinn. TgslTakoma was there in spirit with the MOAB she created. We were also joined for an hour by a couple visiting Arlington.It was a warm, sunny late Spring day in our nation's capital yesterday. The best Memorial Day weekend weather in a long time in these parts.Cars were lined up early on Memorial Drive at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, waiting for the gates to open...

As throngs came to the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen on Memorial Day, a handful of protesters from an anti-gay group stood across a four-lane highway from a conservative group supporting the troops.

An Army honor guard watches over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier day and night, summer and winter. They never crack. But the tomb has. Two cracks run about three quarters of the way around it, and they may soon go completely through the massive solid block of marble. "We cannot as custodians allow this condition to continue without doing something to remedy it," said Thomas Sherlock, the Arlington National Cemetery historian. Man With Plan vs. Bureaucracy In Colorado, retired car dealer John Haines had an idea: He'd give the government a 60-ton marble slab from the same Colorado quarry...

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago As throngs came to the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen on Memorial Day, a handful of protesters from an anti-gay group stood across a four-lane highway from a conservative group supporting the troops. The two groups, separated by a line of police cars, were faced off about 300 feet from the entrance to the cemetery. They held signs making competing arguments. But because of noise from approaching motorcycles and cars, they could not hear one another. A small group of members of the Westboro Baptist Church...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President and Mrs. Bush arrived back at the White House today. They will participate in traditional Memorial Day events tomorrow, including the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery followed by a memorial service in the Memorial Amphitheater. This event will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, beginning at approximately 10:30am Eastern time. For those who can't see it live, it will be rebroadcast at 8:00pm Eastern time on C-SPAN. For a President who is daily maligned by the media and people across the political spectrum, George W. Bush sure...

ARLINGTON Trace Adkins I never thought that this is where I'd settle down. I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown. They gave me this plot of land, Me and some other men, for a job well done. There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road. The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home. They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad: "We're proud of your son." And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property. I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the...

All FReepers and lurkers in good standing are urged to join the D.C. Chapter of Free Republic this Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery as we stand up against the Fred Phelps led Westboro Baptist Church.Phelps and his cult will be doing their "God Hates Fags," "God Loves Dead Soldiers" schtick on Memorial Drive near the entrance to the cemetery.We'll gather in opposition to send a positive, patriotic message of gratitude to the families of the Fallen who will be arriving at Arlington for the wreath laying and speech by President Bush that morning.An excerpt from the press release by...

ARLINGTON, Va., April 17, 2006 – "Faces of the Fallen," a compelling exhibit featuring more than 1,300 portraits honoring America's servicemen and women who died fighting the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, will stay on display at the Women's Memorial here until May 31, officials said. Annette Polan, founder of the "Faces of the Fallen" exhibit on display at the Women in Military Service to America Memorial in Arlington, Va., takes time to read a note left by a portrait of a fallen servicemember. Photo by Rudi Williams  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. More than 230,000...