Arlington National Cemetery: A Symbol of Honor, Sacrifice, and Remembrance

Nestled along the banks of the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery stands as a hallowed ground, a testament to the valor, sacrifice, and service of countless men and women who have served the United States. Its founding, history, and purpose are deeply intertwined with the nation's rich tapestry of military tradition and honor.

The founding of Arlington National Cemetery dates back to the early days of the American Civil War. As the conflict escalated and casualties mounted, the need for a dedicated burial ground became increasingly evident. In May 1864, Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the United States Army, selected Arlington House, the former estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, as the site for a new military cemetery. Meigs' decision to repurpose Lee's estate served as a symbolic gesture, reclaiming the land for the Union cause and honoring the sacrifices of those who fought to preserve the Union.

Since its establishment, Arlington National Cemetery has grown to encompass over 600 acres of pristine landscape, dotted with rows of white headstones that stretch as far as the eye can see. Each headstone represents not just a name, but a story—a life cut short in service to the nation. Among the cemetery's most iconic features is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument dedicated to the memory of unidentified soldiers who gave their lives in service to the country. Guarded around the clock by the soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the "Old Guard," the tomb serves as a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom and the nation's enduring commitment to honor its fallen heroes.

Over the years, Arlington National Cemetery has become a sacred space for remembrance, reflection, and reverence. It is a place where veterans, families, and visitors from around the world come to pay their respects, to mourn, and to honor the memory of those who have gone before. From the rolling hills of Section 60, where the fallen from recent conflicts find their final rest, to the serene beauty of the Arlington House and the eternal flame at the gravesite of President John F. Kennedy, every corner of the cemetery tells a story of service, sacrifice, and valor.

The purpose of Arlington National Cemetery extends beyond mere burial grounds; it serves as a living tribute to the ideals and values for which generations of Americans have fought and died. It is a place of pilgrimage for veterans, a classroom for students of history, and a symbol of national unity and resilience. As the final resting place of over 400,000 service members, veterans, and their families, Arlington National Cemetery stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of the American people and the timeless legacy of those who have answered the call of duty.

In conclusion, Arlington National Cemetery holds a special place in the heart of the nation—a place of profound significance, solemnity, and honor. Its founding, history, and purpose reflect the enduring bond between the American people and those who have served in defense of freedom. As we pay tribute to the fallen and renew our commitment to the ideals for which they gave their lives, we ensure that Arlington National Cemetery remains a beacon of hope, inspiration, and remembrance for generations to come.

Face of Defense: ‘Old Guard’ Sentinel Serves Last Watch

By Army Staff Sgt. Megan Garcia

3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment

ARLINGTON, Va. – For the past four Christmases, Army Sgt. John Baker left his wife and son to spend the holiday with three strangers whose names he did not even know.

Baker is a tomb sentinel, a small group of soldiers entrusted to guard the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery here. Sharing his holidays with the unknowns is a small sacrifice. “I owe them perfection,” Baker said. “They not only gave up their lives for this country, but they gave up their identities as well. Their stories are an open-ended book that may never be closed.”

The tomb holds unidentified remains of soldiers from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. During the late 1990’s, previously unavailable DNA testing determined that the unidentified remains from the Vietnam War were those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie.  The remains were returned to his family in St. Louis, Mo. for burial.

The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in all weather conditions. On Aug. 31, after taking his last walk, Baker ended his chapter in the unknowns’ story.

Reflecting on his first experience at the tomb, Baker said he never thought he would see the day when he would become a tomb sentinel.  “When I was 5 years old, I remember looking up at a tomb guard walking with a rifle, standing at 6-foot-4, and I was just in awe,” Baker said. “I didn’t think that I could do it.”

However, years later, his Army recruiter thought differently. “My recruiter was actually a tomb guard who had left the tomb in 2007,” Baker said. “He talked me into going down to the tomb and set up everything for me along the way.”

Five months later, Baker arrived to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard.”

The Army’s premier ceremonial unit regularly conducts events to honor fallen service members. A select group of the unit’s soldiers guards the tomb. They undergo a rigorous training process that instills the honor, discipline and seriousness necessary to carry out the solemn mission. Baker admitted going into the training that he did not have the right mindset.  “It was a little rough at first,” he said. “I was a 19-year-old kid. I just wanted to have fun. I wanted to have my off time, and I didn’t want to put in the amount of dedication that was necessary.”

Two months into his duty he realized the true honor of being a tomb guard. “It was pouring down rain and I was walking, and there was nobody out there except one old woman,” he said. “She was just looking at me and she was crying, and whenever I would walk past her she would just say, ‘Thank you.’

“I just kept thinking one of them could be her husband that she never saw come home from World War II,” he continued. “That’s when what I did really sunk in.”

Baker has trouble explaining the exact feeling that came over him from that moment and others like it. “It’s hard to put into words when you see those people who really appreciate what we do,” he said. “When a guard changer comes out and requests that the audience stand, I’ve seen veterans fighting to get out of their wheelchairs to pay their respect to the unknowns. That’s what has really drove it home for me.”

The sanctity of his service reshaped Baker’s mentality. “I have so much pride in my country,” he said. “I’ve done something that not a lot of people will do, and I hope I’ve served honorably.”

A long way from the 19-year-old who started this journey, Baker stood tall on the last day of his duty as a tomb sentinel. After walking his final guard shift, Baker relinquished his weapon and prepared to render his final respects to the unknowns.

Walking toward the tomb, Baker stopped to present his ceremonial white gloves to his mother and a rose to his wife and son. He placed a single red rose at the foot of each crypt and rendered one final salute. With his mother, wife and son by his side, Baker left the tomb plaza for the last time. “It’s bittersweet, but I know I’m leaving the tomb in good hands,” said Baker.

Those hands are the legacy of tomb sentinels who Baker said he has watched grow during his time at Arlington. He will miss this special brotherhood, but most importantly, he will never forget the bond he shared with the unknowns. “It’s a feeling that you can’t put into words,” he said. “I’ve asked other tomb sentinels, past and present, and they can’t explain it either. You just know it’s there. I feel like I will always have to defend them.”

Baker, who served at the Tomb of the Unknowns for four and a half years, will report to Fort Stewart, Ga., for his next Army assignment.

Soldiers Missing From Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of three servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, were recently identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown of La Habra, Calif., Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue of Kannapolis, N.C., and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald of Palisades Park, N.J., will be buried as a group on Aug. 30, in a single casket representing the three soldiers, in Arlington National Cemetery.  Brown and Shue were each individually buried on Sept. 26, 2011, at Arlington and May 1 in Kannapolis, N.C.

On Nov. 3, 1969, the men and six Vietnamese soldiers were part of a Special Forces reconnaissance patrol operating in Quang Tri Province, near the Vietnam-Laos border.  The patrol was ambushed by enemy forces and all three Americans were wounded.   Brown was reported to have suffered a gunshot wound to his side.  Due to heavy enemy presence and poor weather conditions, the search-and-rescue team was not able to reach the site until eight days later.  At that time, they found military equipment belonging to Shue, but no other signs of the men.

Between 1993 and 2010, joint United States/Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted multiple interviews on nine different occasions in Quang Tri Province.  Additionally, the S.R.V. teams unilaterally investigated this case, but were unable to develop new leads.  Among those interviewed by the joint teams were former Vietnamese militiamen who claimed in 1969 they ambushed three Americans in the area near the Laos-Vietnam border.  In 2007, a Vietnamese citizen led investigators to human remains that he had discovered and buried near the site of the ambush.  In 2008, a military identification tag for Brown was turned over to the U.S. Government from a U.S. citizen with ties to Vietnam.  Finally, in April 2010, joint teams excavated a hilltop area near Huong Lap Village, recovering additional human remains, military equipment, another military identification tag for Brown, and a “Zippo” lighter bearing the name ”Donald M. Shue” and the date “1969.”

Scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial and material evidence, along with mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of some of the soldiers’ family members—in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, call 703- 699-1169 or visit the DPMO Web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.

CNO Commemorates 68th Anniversary of Guam Liberation

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Kyle P. Malloy, Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert attended the Wreath-Laying Ceremony for the National Commemoration of the 68th Anniversary of the Liberation of Guam and the Battle for the Northern Marianas at the Tomb of the Unknowns in the Arlington National Cemetery, July 17.

Following the ceremony CNO recognized the significance of remembering our history and the veterans who have gone before us.

"We remember our veterans, Sailors and Marines," said Greenert. "Many who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the Battle for the Northern Marianas."

He highlighted the partnership between the United States and Guam, and how this important relationship continues today.

"Guam and our Navy have a proud, shared history, and many of Guam's sons and daughters continue to honorably serve our country today," said Greenert.

The event focused on the importance of supporting events like the wreath-laying ceremony so that pivotal moments in a nation's history and the Navy's history can continue to be recognized.

"It was a great honor to join this special event," said Greenert. "Thanks to all those who supported."

Greenert was joined by members of Congress, the Honorable Madeleine Z. Bordallo and the Honorable Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, along with flag and general officers from all services to recognize the sacrifices of the United States service members who gave their lives to liberate the people of Guam during World War II.

Landscapers ‘Give Back’ to Vets, Fallen at Arlington

By Terri Moon Cronk

American Forces Press Service

ARLINGTON, Va. , July 9, 2012 – More than 400 volunteers from children to adults descended on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery today for the 16th annual Renewal and Remembrance, to honor the nation’s veterans and fallen service members by sprucing up the landmark’s grounds.

Members of PLANET – the nonprofit Professional Landcare Network -- brought out 82 professional lawn care and landscape companies from around the country for this year’s Renewal and Remembrance. They lent their hands and donated materials and equipment to mulch, prune, aerate, irrigate, plant, spread lime, and cable some of the trees for lightning protection on 150 of the cemetery’s more than 560 acres.

Since the annual Renewal and Remembrance landscaping event began, more than $2 million has been contributed to the care of the national cemetery, according to a PLANET news release.

The cemetery’s 8,400 trees are maintained on a four-year pruning cycle. Some are more than 200 years old, cemetery officials said.

John Gibson of Swingle Lawn, Tree and Landscape Care traveled from Denver with his daughters Taylor, 17, and Marissa, 15, to join a six-person crew that spread 400 bags of lime to balance the soil’s nutritional levels. This is his twelfth year of working with Renewal and Remembrance at the cemetery, and his daughters’ first, he said.

“The very first year,” John Gibson said, “I realized what an impact it would make on those people who made an impact for us. It’s pretty emotional every year to have a chance to give back. All we do is lawn and tree care, and these guys [sacrificed their lives] for us.”

“It’s nice to give back to the people who gave everything,” Taylor Gibson said, adding that she and her sister would come back next year.

About 25 of the volunteers’ children, ranging in age from 3 to 12, pitched in on the beautification project. But before they planted milkweed, they received a lesson in the importance of how the plants attract the caterpillars of the endangered and migratory Monarch butterfly, and how the caterpillars feed only on that particular plant.

Former Navy officer Roger Phelps, promotional communications manager for Stihl equipment, has worked with the children at Arlington’s Renewal and Remembrance for 10 years.

“It’s my passion,” Phelps said of his work with the project. “These kids are our future, and creating this experience is important.”

And volunteers bringing their children, he added, is especially meaningful.

“It’s so important, because we live in sort of a virtual world,” he said. “These kids are different. They live in a real world. They get their hands dirty, they put the plants in the ground [and] see the roots in the dirt.”

Phelps said many of the children return from year to year and see the fruits of their labor as the vegetation they planted grows and matures.

“We take the kids around to all the different areas they’ve worked on over the years, so they can point to the things they’ve worked on and planted,” he said. “The opportunity for us is to give them an understanding of what it means to serve, and what service means. What they learn here is by working with the plants, they have an opportunity to serve the families and visitors by creating an environment that is pleasant and respectful.”

The significance of the children volunteering goes beyond planting foliage, Phelps said.

“We live in a generation that’s getting a little separated from what it means to serve in the military,” he said. “So these kids learn that at the same time.”

Phelps related the story of a young girl who once asked her father if all the headstones were people. “He had the opportunity to explain to her what this place means,” he said. Phelps, a former Navy lieutenant commander, said Arlington National Cemetery is a special place to him.

“I’ve got some shipmates and friends in here,” he said, adding that many of the landscape volunteers also know someone who is buried at the national cemetery. “It’s a personal thing, too.”