Oceanside CA– Remembering what Memorial Day is all about, the people at Military Times were kind enough to share their incredible feature on Arlington National Cemetery.
Since the first military burial at the cemetery on May 13, 1864, Arlington National Cemetery has become the final resting place for more than 400,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and their families. Those who on Sept. 11, 2001, died only a few hundred yards away at the Pentagon are buried here, as are the Challenger astronauts. Fifteen thousand soldiers from the Civil War — Union and Confederate — rest in Section 27 and Section 13, known as the Field of the Dead. Four thousand freed slaves, many identified only as “Citizen,” and two presidents also are buried at Arlington
Up to 30 burials are conducted at Arlington every weekday. Mercifully, the number of casualties from America’s most recent wars is dwindling, but the pace of operations, about 7,000 burials per year, remains steady as veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam pass away.
Some facts about Section 27:
Pvt. William Henry Christman, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry, first military service man interred in Arlington National Cemetery, May 13, 1864.
Pvt. William H. McKinney, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry, interred Friday, May 13, 1864 (age 17, first to have family present at funeral).
Pvt. William Reeves, 76th New York Infantry, first draftee interred, May 13, 1864.
Pvt. William Blatt, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry, first battle casualty interred, Saturday, May 14, 1864.
Two Unknown Union Soldiers were interred on May 15, 1864. They were the first of nearly 5,000 unknowns now resting in Arlington National Cemetery.
The first graves in Arlington National Cemetery were dug by James Parks, a former Arlington Estate slave. Buried in Section 15. James Parks is the only person buried in Arlington National Cemetery who was born on the property.
About 1,500 United States Colored Troops are interred in section 27. The first black combat soldiers of the Civil War.
Nearly 3,800 “citizens” or “contrabands” (former slaves who were living in Freedman’s Village on the Arlington Estate) are interred in Section 27. Citizen or civilian is inscribed on their headstones.
Four Medal of Honor recipients are interred in Section 27.
Landsman William H. Brown, on the USS Brooklyn, U.S. Navy (27- 565-A) Civil War
Sgt. James H. Harris, 38th U.S. Colored Troops, U.S. Army (27-985-H) Civil War
Pvt. James Richmond, 8th Ohio Infantry, U.S. Army (27-886). Pvt. Richmond captured the flag at Gettysburg. Civil War
Sgt. Thomas Shaw, 9th U.S. Cavalry, U.S. Army (27-952-B) Indian Campaigns (1881)
Enhance Your Visit
If you plan to visit the cemetery, there is an app available for mobile devices that will enhance your visit. Arlington National Cemetery, released an update to its app, ANC Explorer. ANC Explorer 2.0 has enhanced features such as slide out navigation menus, advanced routing, and provides easy access to general information about the cemetery (e.g. Plan Your Visit, What to See). Users will have the ability to save searched burial records and points of interest to create custom tours, link to social media apps, and take and send postcards within the app. It is currently available only through the Apple App Store and Google Play.
See the Entire Project from Military Times
A very special thanks to Andrew deGrandpre Director for Digital News, armytimes.com, marinecorpstimes.com, airforcetimes.com, navytimes.com for sharing this. You can view the project, put together by Military Times with more photos and video, here [Link] . For the full effect, make sure your speakers are on.