Arlington National Cemetery

Yesterday we took a trip to the Arlington National Cemetery for 2 reasons. One we live here and it would be a shame to have not visited this place where our Veterans are buried. Arlington is one of  131 National Cemeteries in the US…

It would have been a more spectacular photo opportunity last week when there was snow… but the graves and wreaths have just as much impact without the snow. Sadly, only a small percentage of the markers get wreaths, there are many more graves that are not presented with a wreath, here and in other National Cemeteries. I must say thank you to the companies that supply the wreaths, the companies that ship them and the volunteers that place them. I hope next year I can volunteer… it would be my honor to honor our hero's!

There are more than 250000 military graves at Arlington Cemetery. But there are also family members buried here as well making the total closer to 400000 graves. Along with the plain headstones, there are many that are larger and more prominent. In some cases, the headstone marks more than one grave, (a soldiers wife or child/children) are also marked and added to the back of the smaller stones. There is a fact sheet about the Cemetery here if you are interested in more information.

Among the memorials; we visited the Kennedy Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Challenger Memorial. We also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A very sobering sight!

We had to leave after only 2 hours, as sometime in the last week I did something to my left knee… I suspect it is all the stairs in this house, but the walking… did me in. I did think to take ice with us… so I iced it all the way home. I think a doctor is in my near future….

More later- Beth