Arlington Cemetery Research Paper

I would be a good candidate for placing the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier because my grandfather is a Vietnam war veteran and I would be the second generation to lay the wreath at the tomb. While my grandfather had been serving in Vietnam, he was shot in the chest. He had not slept for 2 days after in fear of never being able to wake up again. He was awarded the Purple Heart and is immensely proud of his service. My mother wrote the winning essay for the wreath laying her 8th grade year at Butler Junior High. I believe that my connections to not only what the tomb represents, but the actual tomb itself makes me a worthy candidate for laying the wreath at the unknown soldier.

Laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a huge honor that would be amazing to partake in. This would mean to me in honoring all the lives lost serving our country and honoring all veterans, impacting my future for the better, and I would take away a greater respect from that I already have of many honorable lives lost in wars and who lay in Arlington National Cemetery. I have wanted to visit Arlington National Cemetery and this would be incredible experience.

For many visitors, the memorial represents a sense of closeness between the dead and the living, especially in that the can see traces of our world - their faces, the sky and trees - reflected in the names of the dead. As described by Senator Charles Mathias, a strong supporter of the Memorial, “A location on the Mall is symbolically appropriate. We can all recall when the Mall was the battleground of opinion and dissent regarding America’s role in Vietnam. Its proximity to the Lincoln Memorial is also fitting, for not since the Civil War had this nation suffered wounds and divisions as grievous as those endured over Vietnam.” (Scruggs 18). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial points to the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument, as if to ask whether the war “was true to Lincoln’s justice and healing as well as Washington’s founding intentions, struggles against foreign tyrants, and military genius” (Griswold 82). The inclusion of the names of the names of all of the deceased in chronological order would read like an epic Greek poem, according to Maya Lin, as well as avoid making the memorial look like a telephone book, as she feared alphabetical listing would (Scruggs 78-79). The practice of leaving offerings (letters, dogtags, photos, birthday and Christmas cards,

The 3rd Infantry is oldest active duty regiment in the United States Army, serving our nation since 1784. The Old Guard is responsible for conducting military ceremonies, serving at national memorials and being an escort to the president. In order to be in the 3rd Infantry you must meet certain fitness, education, and character requirements along with certain army requirements. One of the main jobs of the Old Guard is to maintain a 24 hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown according to oldguard.mdw.army.mil. On Arlington National Cemetery it states, “The Tomb Guard marches 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the process.” The 21 symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed -- the 21-gun salute. The Sentinel’s Creed is the Tomb Guard standard and captures the true meaning of their duty according to tombguard.org.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a practice utilized throughout the world to memorialize soldiers who have died in modern wars without being identified. The first monument of this kind was the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers in Frederica, Denmark (1858), which memorialized unknown soldiers who died in the First War of Schleswig. Another such Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is found in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was erected in 1866 to honor those soldiers who died during the American Civil War.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed at the Arlington National Cemetery because it was the honorary cemetery where people that had served in the United States forces were likely buried. The Tomb is supposed to show respect and honor, especially because we couldn’t identify him as

The tomb of the unknown soldier is a cemetery for the soldiers from World War Ⅰ, World War Ⅱ, and the Vietnam War. On Memorial Day 1921, four unknowns were disinterred from World War Ⅰ American cemeteries in France. Army Sgt. Edward F. Younger selected one of the four identical caskets by placing a spray of white roses on the casket. The chosen unidentified soldier was transported to the United States by the USS Olympia. The others remaining were interred in Meuse Argonne Cemetery in France.

Arlington National Cemetery is located in Arlington, Virginia and is home to over 400,000 graves. Service members who died while on active duty, retired members of the Armed Forces, and certain veterans and family members may be buried there. Seeing the countless rows of headstones allowed me to reflect upon the sacrifices made by our U.S. soldiers. I have a tremendous amount of respect for every person buried there. Monuments, memorials and dedicated trees commemorating individuals and significant events in our nation's history are interspersed throughout the cemetery among the headstones of service members for whom Arlington is the final resting place. These people shall never be forgotten. Walking beside the graves allowed me

One of the Unknowns buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was the Unknown from World War II. The trooper was chosen from two caskets, where one casket had the remains of a soldier that was eliminated in Europe, and the other casket had the remains of a soldier that was eliminated in the Pacific. Medal of Honor recipient Hospital Corpsman First Class William R. Charette had the honor of choosing the remains to be sent to Arlington National Cemetery. As a result, the other casket with the remains of the other soldier were buried at sea. Before the casket was buried, the casket of the World War II Unknown was laid in the U.S.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is on a hill that looks over Washington,D.C. On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unknown American soldier from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater. The white marble tomb has a flat-faced form and is relieved at the corners and along the sides by neo-classic0 columns, set into the surface. Sculpted into the east panel which faces Washington, D.C., are three Greek figures representing Peace, Victory, and Valor. The six wreaths, three sculpted on each side, represent the six major campaigns of World War I. Written on the back of the Tomb are the words: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”

Arlington National Cemetery is a place where we honor our nation’s fallen soldiers and presidents. Arlington came about by George Washington when he married a widow Martha Custis. Martha had four kids with her first husband, but only two survived. Their names are

It is important to always remember the names of the people who sacrificed everything for us. "The need for the names to be on the memorial would become the memorial; there was no need to embellish the design further. The people and their names would allow everyone to respond and remember." (Maya

“What [is scene] in the cemetery are the last vestiges of a great American tragedy” (Roberts xi). This cemetery is one massive grave, were the remains of nearly 13,000 Union prisoners of war who died of disease and starvation between February 1864 and May 1865. This is Andersonville.

The graves of many famous people are at Arlington Nationel Cemetary. It did not start out that way. In 1861, a Confederate General and his wife owned the house and the land. That General was Robert E. Lee. His house was across the river from Washington, D.C. The Union Army took over the land at the start of the Civil War. Union soldiers that were killed in the war was buried near the house. These soldiers were poor. Their families could not pay for them to be buried. Arlington was called a "potter's field." A potters field is a place where poor or unknown people are buried. After the war, something odd started to happen. Union officers asked to be buried at Arlington. They wanted to be near those men who had been in the war with them. Americans

After arriving at the Arlington National Cemetery the leaders of 99 different nations gathered for the state funeral of President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy was laid to rest accompanied with the full military honors that were stationed on a slope below the base of the Arlington House. The grave of the fallen president was marked by an eternal flame that was lit by non other than the president’s wife, Mrs. Kennedy. This eternal flame is a representation of the eternal mourning of America due to the loss of such a strong and caring man that led their nation through good and difficult times.