When you first enter Arlington National Cemetery, the tranquility is striking. Then, as you walk among the many perfectly uniform white headstones, you are quietly humbled and, finally, seeing the magnitude of our dead, sad but proud. There far many more graves than I could comprehend.
There are 600+ acres in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Though I knew it was large, nothing prepares you for the immensity of so many uniform graves. That they represent only a tiny fraction of our military dead is stunning.
Presidents in Arlington National Cemetery
I headed from the visitor’s center to President John F. Kennedy’s grave. As I marched past the silent rows, I joined hundreds of other people visiting the cemetery that day. As a taphophile, I visit cemeteries worldwide but usually alone. Cemeteries, I often lament, are too often undervisited, but not this one.
At the top of a hill, in sight of the Washington Monument, Kennedy’s grave is simpler than I expected. It’s a circular granite walkway and, at the grave, an eternal flame. The flame burns from the center of a five-foot circular granite stone at the head of the grave and, as the name implies, is always intended to stay lit. There, with his wife and two children, he lies, his stone a flat, dark granite. Of the several presidential graves I’ve seen, this is the only one without a tall monument. Instead, there are words on a black granite wall around the site, but the glare of the noonday sun prevented me from reading them.
Interesting fact: Jacqueline Kennedy lit the eternal flame with a candle at the end of the burial service.
Aside from Kennedy, the only other president buried in Arlington National Cemetery is William Howard Taft. His 14-foot memorial is made of dark mahogany granite with gold-leafed inscriptions and two granite benches on either side.
Others buried in Arlington National Cemetery
The U.S. Army seized the land at the start of the Civil War and the first person buried in Arlington was Private William Christman in 1864 after Brigadier General Montgomery Meigs ordered the land be used as a cemetery. Initially, those buried there were soldiers from families that couldn’t afford anything else.
After Kennedy’s funeral, the request for burial at Arlington exploded. Now, as a premier national military cemetery, regulations restrict in-ground burial. Only veterans with service medals, prisoners of war, military retirees with an honorable discharge and their eligible dependents can be buried there. Others who served at least one active-duty day can request interment in the Columbarium Court or Niche Wall.
Fun Fact: Arlington National Cemetery is the site of the first Memorial Day celebration. When it began in 1868, it was known as “Decoration Day.”
There are at least 35 other monuments and memorials in Arlington National Cemetery. They stand for past wars, combat groups and divisions, space shuttles like Challenger, specific demographics of people such as the Spanish-American War Nurses, battles, people and more. But they do not contain graves.
About 95,000 burial spaces remain, and about 22 million veterans are eligible for them.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
I walked back down the hill and across the cemetery with its blossoming magnolia trees to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There was a crowd gathered to watch the changing of the guard. An inscription on the tomb reads, “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
The military guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier changes in an elaborate ceremony every hour from October through March and every half hour from April through September. There are signs asking for silence and respect, but they are unnecessary. The silence and respect are profound.
Since the interment in 1921, the grave has never been unguarded. Soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” stand watch 24 hours a day.
As I watched these soldiers march precisely back and forth in front of the grave, walking at a cadence of 90 steps per minute, I wondered what this appointment must mean. To be a soldier or veteran and see this show of respect, even for a civilian, was spectacular and humbling.
Fun Fact: Tomb “sentinels” must memorize seven pages of Arlington National Cemetery history and recite it verbatim, in addition to many other prerequisites, to earn the honor of a chance to “walk.”
Visiting Arlington National Cemetery
It’s worth visiting Arlington National Cemetery if you are interested in the military or American history. If not, still it’s a beautiful place to spend a quiet afternoon walking in a serene environment in our nation’s capital.
If you’re interested in cemetery details, you can tour the large visitor center, take a guided tour, read many signs or participate in events. The property is large, so you can plan to spend between two and several hours visiting.
The ANC Explorer app is free and helps visitors locate gravesites and other points of interest throughout the cemetery.
Arlington National Cemetery is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
