Arlington Cemetery

We woke up this morning to no electricity. We vaguely recall a noise about 3.00am but took no notice of it. It was the hotels back up generator kicking in.

We got up to a very chilly room and got ready for our day of exploring. Couldn’t have a shower as there was no hot water and Dave couldn’t have a coffee either.

We headed out the door Arlington Cemetery bound. We took the long way around (Dave was directing again) but we got to see areas of DC we hadn’t seen before.

Walking over the bridge to Arlington was a very chilly affair, the wind was so strong it nearly blew us over. We crossed state lines into Virginia from DC when you get over the bridge.

We opted for the bus tour first and then we would explore the cemetery by foot. Arlington Cemetery was first a plantation with enslaved people and has a very long history of slavery. It is all very confusing the family lines of Arlington House, so many illegitimate children etc etc. After the plantation was forcibly taken during the Civil War it became a cemetery owned by the US Department of the Army.

The cemetery grounds are 640 acres with over 400,000 gravesites. It is mainly service men and women and their spouse and up to 2 children who are buried in one site. Not all graves are for service personnel who died in war, you can be buried there if you ever served for the American Armed Forces. However a lot of the gravesites are for fallen soldiers from all wars. Just as you start the tour of the cemetery you come across a very large red brick arch which is the old entrance to the cemetery and everything through that arch is from previous wars. If you turn around and look before you get through the arch, all those tombstones represent soldiers from the recent wars. It truly is mind blowing not only how many people lost their lives in war but however many people serve. Arlington conducts up to 30 funerals a day!!

While we were there, 17 funerals took place. One had a 10 canon salute which gave me such a fright that I nearly hit the deck as I thought it was gun fire and another had a 5 gun salute.

A few presidents and their wives plus some astronauts are also buried there. JFK and his wife Jackie plus their children who died in infancy are buried there.

There are sections of the cemetery that have large headstones but in 2014 (or thereabouts) it was decided that only the white marble tombstones would be used. These tombstones go on as far as the eye can see.

There is also the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is guarded 24/7 all year round no matter the weather. There is the changing of the guard every 15 mins which we watched. It has been guarded constantly since April 6 1948 by The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard”.

The Guard marches 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns and faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, and then takes 21 steps down the mat. Next, the Guard executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place his/her weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors, signifying that he or she stands between the Tomb and any possible threat. The number 21 symbolises the highest symbolic military honor that can be bestowed: the 21-gun salute.

I could have spent so much more time exploring the cemetery but as it was 4.00pm and we hadn’t had lunch we thought we better go.

On our way back we stopped off at the Korean War Memorial and the Veitnam Veterans Memorial. Again the long list of names of men and women who died in war just beggars belief.

We walked back into DC stopping at Chipotle for a late lunch early dinner before heading back to our room.

We were hoping the power would be back on but alas no. The managers of the hotel thought it would be later in the night so we decided to stay.

As it was cold (with no heating) and dark we went to bed at 6.30pm.

We walked 16.4kms.Meer informatie