Arlington National Cemetery

Out of Many, We Are One

Description

Just across the Potomac River from the District, Arlington National Cemetery, once the home of General Robert E. Lee, is a nakedly moving, historic testament to the courage, valor, and sacrifice of the men and women who have served the United States since its inception over two centuries prior. Veterans killed in every conflict from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried here--more than 290,000 Americans are buried among the 624 acres at Arlington. Two Presidents, John F. Kennedy and William H. Taft, are located here as well--Kennedy's grave site marked by an "eternal flame." His brother Robert is nearby. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier contains the remains of unidentified veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. It is guarded around the clock, 24-hours a day, by the Army. Other notable tributes include the Marine Corps War Memorial, which is modeled after Joe Rosenthal's indelible image of the six Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and that of the Challenger space shuttle. The scale is hard to fathom until you are stalking the vast rows of graves, each representing an enormous individual sacrifice for the collective society they lived within. There are few places better suited to teaching your children about war and its consequences, and still fewer with such connections to the formative events of American history.