Posts Tagged ‘natural cemetery’
What To Look For When you Go To The Arlington National Cemetery
Over 4 million people, choose to visit Arlington National Cemetery every year. It has over 200 acres and was originally set up to be a military natural burial site in the mid 1800′s . It is the second biggest national cemetery in the United States with over 300,000 people buried there. This famous natural cemetery is located in Arlington, Virginia and brings visitors here for many different reasons. Some simply wish to be able to see a part of American history, some come to pay their respects and honor the nation’s war veterans and others are there for the funeral and burial of a friend or relative .
For those people that are there to attend a funeral, they are in the company of a lot of others every week at Arlington. The cemetery has average of about 28 funerals everday during the week with no funerals happening on the weekends. Veterans from all of the nation’s the American Revolution all the way to Iraq and Afghanistan. There are specific ceremonies that happen at] a funeral here. They have a wreath laying ceremony in addition to a 21 gun salute in honor of the soldier. They also follow the burial with the playing of taps and the presentation of the flag that was on the coffin to the relatives.
One of the most frequently visited sections of the Arlington national cemetery is the Tomb of the Unknowns. This is a monumental tomb that was created and holds the remains of an unknown soldier from every war. It is meant to symbolize all of the service members that lost their lives during war. There was a ceremony when each Unknown Soldier was interred into Arlington by the presiding President of the United States at that moment. The only war that does not have representation is the Vietnam War where the remains were taken out and identified and then the family of that soldier preferred to have him buried near their home. The Tomb of the Unknowns is guarded by the U.S. Army every hour of every day of the year .
There are famous people that are well thought of in American History that are also honored by being buried at this cemetery. These people were not military figures but mad an impact in our history. There are several explorers buried as well as some astronauts here. Also, laid to rest here are famous political people such as the Kennedy brothers. Famous literary and medical Americans are burial in Arlington too. There are also 2 Presidents of the United States buried here and they are William Howard Taft and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Many visitors enjoy walking all around and seeing all of the famous names buried in one location .
If you would like to travel to the Washington, D.C. area and take a visit to Arlington, Virginia to see this famous cemetery, it may be exciting to see it on a day that has special events going on . Veteran’s Day usually has the sitting President speak in honor of those that lost their lives for our country .