Third Stop - Arlington National Cemetery

Old Town Trolley Tours runs a shuttle from the Lincoln Memorial stop to Arlington National Cemetery and we climbed aboard. When we got to Arlington, we decided to pay for a tourmobile tour of the cemetery because John was getting weary, everything is uphill from the Visitors' Center and it is was warm in the sun. I am impressed how they emphasize that this is hallowed ground and urge people to be respectful. The usual loud crowds are very muted here.

We got off the bus at the Kennedy gravesite where there is an eternal flame burning. President Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, and two of their deceased children are buried here, as is Robert Kennedy. I wondered why Robert Kennedy was buried here, but in reading his bio found that he had been in the Navy. I never knew.

There was such a long line waiting for the bus, I suggested we walk to the Tomb of the Unknowns. We got there just in time to see the end of the changing of the guard ceremony and then laying of two wreaths. No matter how large the crowd, silence is maintained and most people seemed moved.

As we left the Tomb area, we saw a team of horses at a gallop pulling an empty caisson, coming from one of 25 funerals held every day at Arlington. A friend of John's once served as a member of one these teams when he was in the Army. Hoo-rah Rich!!

This photo of graves shows the mix of large and small grave markers. Union soldiers were first buried here in 1864 during the Civil War. Until the 1940s any type of marker was allowed. Since then all markers are the standard rectangular white marble markers.

We walked back down the hill to the Visitor's Center and caught our shuttle back across the Potomac River to the Lincoln Memorial.