Arlington Cemetery (Arlington National Cemetery, to be more precise) is more than a burial ground – it is a national treasure. On an 1,100-acre expanse of rolling green terrain, Arlington Cemetery serves as the final resting place for more than 400,000 active duty service members, veterans, and their families. It should also be a destination for tourists to the nation’s capital who want to honor those who served our country, remember their sacrifices, and explore our collective history. At Stillinger Family Funeral Home, we encourage everyone to visit this historic and reverent site.
Arlington Cemetery Monuments and Memorials
Monuments at Arlington Cemetery range from large and majestic memorials for well-known Americans and history-shaping conflicts to the standard white marble headstones standing in perfect alignment in thousands of rows. The precision and symmetry of the aligned headstones is a lasting tribute to the regimented rank and file so closely associated with American military personnel.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is more accurately known as the Tomb of the Unknowns because the unidentified remains of soldiers representing wars dating back to WWI are entombed there. The Tomb of the Unknowns has been under the perpetual vigilance and guard since July 2, 1937. Each hour (or half hour throughout most of the spring and summer) a time honored “changing of the guard” ritual takes place.
Arlington Cemetery is also the resting place for many well-known American leaders, officials and veterans. Here you will find the graves of President William Howard Taft, and President John F. Kennedy and family; as well as Generals George Marshall, Jimmy Doolittle, and Omar Bradley. The designer of the physical layout of Washington D.C., Pierre L’Enfant, is buried at Arlington Cemetery, too, as are civil rights pioneer Medgar Evers and Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln.
(Arlington remains an active cemetery, too, with an average of more than 30 funerals taking place each day.)
Memorials on the Arlington Cemetery grounds include Memorial Trees recognizing the World Wars and the Vietnam War. There are also physical memorials to Pan Am Flight 103, The U.S. Coast Guard, the Battle of the Bulge, the Space Shuttle Challenger and the Space Shuttle Columbia, and many more.
A Fitting Tribute to Our History and Heritage
While every cemetery is a place for remembrance and reverence, Arlington Cemetery is a fitting national historic location that encompasses and symbolizes the sacrifices of our forebears and their contributions to our nation’s heritage and future. At Stillinger Family Funeral Home in Greenfield, Indiana, we have coordinated many services for military personnel and veterans; and we salute this national treasure. You can visit Arlington Cemetery 365 days a year in person or online at www.arlingtoncemetery.mil. And for more information about the services we provide at Stillinger Family Funeral Home, contact us at (317) 462-5536.
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