After we visited Ford’s Theater, we headed on over to Arlington National Cemetery. Close to Arlington is the Pentagon Memorial for the 184 who died on 9/11/2001 at 9:37 am. The individual memorials are arranged in a time line from the youngest, Dana Falkenberg who was 3 to John D. Yamnicky who was 71. Each individual memorial is a cantilevered bench, a lighted pool of flowing water and the name of each victim. See the benches facing the Pentagon - those are for those who died in the Pentagon. The benches of those who were on the plane face the direction of the plane’s approach. The trees are Cape Myrtle and they will grow tall enough to shade the entire memorial.
As we were walking around the monument, there was a group of teens also walking around. All were quiet in reverence to those who had died.
We then took off for Arlington National Cemetery where, at the top of the hill, is Arlington House, Robert E. Lee’s home which is furnished with the original pieces that were here when Lee was. Here is the room where Lee proposed to his future wife.
Here is a picture of Lee - obviously when he was younger. We all think of Lee with grey hair and with the world on his shoulders. but - nope - he was not born with grey hair. Here he is a dashing young officer with his life ahead of him.
The house was originally built by George Washington Parke Custis who was raised by George Washington from his childhood. He revered Washington and kept a lot of the furniture and paintings and china from the Washington’s when he inherited it all. He had Washington’s campaign tent from the Revolutionary War, the china that George and Martha used and many other pieces. When Lee left for Richmond to accept his commission with the confederate army and Mrs. Lee fled because the Union occupied Arlington Heights to defend the capitol, Mrs. Lee gave the keys to the mansion to her most trusted slave, Selina Gray, who then became the caretaker of all the Washington treasures. When items began to disappear, she went to the commanding officer who then moved many of the items to Washington DC. Without her watchful eyes, we wouldn’t have many artifacts from George and Martha Washington.
Today the National Park Service maintains the home as a memorial to Robert E. Lee as a great general and as a great example of reconciliation after the Civil War.
Finally we walked over to Arlington Cemetery to pay our respects to all those buried there. When the Civil War casualties began to outpace the growth of other cemeteries in the DC area, Arlington National Cemetery was established on the Lee land. Ultimately, the Lee family was compensated and the cemetery remained in government hands. Today, the cemetery is the final resting place for 400,000 active-duty military and their families.
We also stopped at President Kennedy’s eternal flame and at Robert Kennedy’s grave. There were quite a few groups of Junior High kids in the cemetery at this time. To them President Kennedy must be ancient history. To me, it happened when I was a Senior in high school. I was in Physics, the last class of the day when the intercom came on with some news from the radio. What’s going on? we all asked. No introduction, just the radio broadcast. Then it hit us - President Kennedy had been shot and was on his way to the hospital. We were dismissed, went home, and I don’t know of a TV in America that was off that weekend.
Washington’s one of those towns that has so much going at any one time that you never know what you’ll see - just by chance. Today, just by chance we got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier right after the changing of the guard so thought we’d just have to wait a bit. We watched the young man on guard march up and down for a bit and then he disappeared into his guard house. Huh? I thought they were always out marching 24-7-365. Nope, he went into the guard house and out of sight. Then a Sergeant marched in and in back of us, up the steps a group of youngsters with another guard appeared. The Sergeant told us that there was a wreath laying and would we please put our hands over our hearts when he said: ‘Present Arms’. Then the youngsters walked down the steps with their wreath, handed it to the Sergeant who put it on a stand, stepped back and the bugler played ‘Taps.’ Shivers up and down my spine, tears forming in my eyes. WOW. Note all the WWII soldiers in red in the background. They are in town for the WWII flyover on Friday.
Then, there was a second wreath laying. How could we be so lucky to arrive just at the moment when all this was about to happen? And, then, when that was over, the regular guard came out of his guard house, and began his solemn march back and forth. Then it was time for the changing of the guard. It is quite a stylized ritual and executed to perfection - every time.
On the way back to the Campground on the bus, we met a group of 7 also returning to the campground representing 4 generations: a great-grandmother in a wheelchair, her daughter in a wheelchair with her husband, their son and daughter-in-law with their 2-yr old child and another male who I never really saw. They are making a 3 week trip from Texas to NY to Montreal and back in a C-style RV with 3 beds. They don’t like to make reservations in advance because you know what might happen and just call RV parks as they draw near. Yes, they are a bit crowded but they are having lots of fun. ‘We like to fly by the seat of our pants.’ the father of the 2-yr old said. What an interesting group. They had just spent their second day in town and were a bit tired but still smiling and laughing about their adventure.
Marvelous day.
'It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.'
George Washington
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