And If They Lay Us Down to Rest. . .
I'v been a couple days behind in updates, so this will be a massive two parter. It also seems that there's no good history of Arlington National Cemetery on midnightranter, so I'm killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. The land ownership dates back to reolutionary times when it was owned as part of Washington's massive plantation starting at Mount Vernon. This was handed down through the generations to his graddaughter Mary Custis. Mary Custis married a young West Pointer named Robert E. Lee and they made the place one of their homes. When the Civil War broke out, the land was seized, claming that the land was still part of the US and they hadn't paid taxes on it, by Brigadier General Meigs. Seeing a need for land, they started burying Union dead on the lands. To make sure Mrs. Lee wouldn't want the land back, they started burying the dead near the Rose Gardens. That worked, and after the war she moved to another home in Lexington, Virginia. After that, the land was given back to the Lees, bought legally and military dead started to be interred there.
Along with such military heroes such as Col. David Hackworth, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway and General of the Army (5-star to the rest of you) Douglas MacArthur being buried there, President Taft, Pierre L'Enfant deigner of Washington DC and mystery writer Dashiell Hammett are also buried there. And, of course, JFK's eternal flame in memoriam to that president. Today, there will be ceremonies to remember all the dead, and there is ALWAYS the ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
But today is special, of course, because this is Memorial Day. Memorial Day was started started as way to remember Union dead in the Civil War, but in 1868 it was expanded to officially remember all those who had falled in the Civil War. Of course, the South refused to honor that day, preferring to have their own days, aside from national days of rememberance, to remember their dead. After World War I, the day was changed to official commemorate all who died in service to the United States. People have parades, everyone gets a day off work (except zeriel) and we mark this as the start of summer. Veterans groups complain that people don't take it seriously enough, and perhaps this is true.
Too often, we think of Memorial Day and think of the Indianapolis 500, what movies arae opening anad what cops are on the road today. But, we also do try to feel something. Yes, there is some convenient commericalism attacahed to this day, but that doesn't mean we don't feel it. Yes, there are less parades, but that doesn't mean individuals don't think about it. We have come up with the odd notion that some how if we don't haave outward, gaudy displays, we don't really feel or care about something. We're not patriots unless we scream about it an put a hundred stickers on our car, fly a dozen flags and hate the rest of the world. The simple truth is, we can commemorate the day in our own ways.
As long as we remember in our hearts, that's the most important memorial of all.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Along with such military heroes such as Col. David Hackworth, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway and General of the Army (5-star to the rest of you) Douglas MacArthur being buried there, President Taft, Pierre L'Enfant deigner of Washington DC and mystery writer Dashiell Hammett are also buried there. And, of course, JFK's eternal flame in memoriam to that president. Today, there will be ceremonies to remember all the dead, and there is ALWAYS the ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
But today is special, of course, because this is Memorial Day. Memorial Day was started started as way to remember Union dead in the Civil War, but in 1868 it was expanded to officially remember all those who had falled in the Civil War. Of course, the South refused to honor that day, preferring to have their own days, aside from national days of rememberance, to remember their dead. After World War I, the day was changed to official commemorate all who died in service to the United States. People have parades, everyone gets a day off work (except zeriel) and we mark this as the start of summer. Veterans groups complain that people don't take it seriously enough, and perhaps this is true.
Too often, we think of Memorial Day and think of the Indianapolis 500, what movies arae opening anad what cops are on the road today. But, we also do try to feel something. Yes, there is some convenient commericalism attacahed to this day, but that doesn't mean we don't feel it. Yes, there are less parades, but that doesn't mean individuals don't think about it. We have come up with the odd notion that some how if we don't haave outward, gaudy displays, we don't really feel or care about something. We're not patriots unless we scream about it an put a hundred stickers on our car, fly a dozen flags and hate the rest of the world. The simple truth is, we can commemorate the day in our own ways.
As long as we remember in our hearts, that's the most important memorial of all.
So it is written, so do I see it.