Free Republic

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. A group called Defend Arlington, affiliated with a group called Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking the restraining order. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday. Work to remove the memorial had begun Monday before the restraining order was issued, but the memorial remains in place on cemetery grounds. A cemetery spokesperson said Monday that Arlington is complying with the restraining order, but referred all...

The Biden regime has moved in the demolition crews to remove the Confederate statue in Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC. John Reid from Richmond’s Morning News with John Reid posted photos on Sunday of the demolition crew moving into the cemetery to remove the monument. John posted video from Arlington Cemetery this morning where he reported on the destruction of the famous statue. The crane was moved in and the removal is expected to take place on Monday.

I have reversed the ridiculous decision to cancel Wreaths Across America at Arlington National Cemetery. It will now go on! https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328801981222281216

Yesterday Arlington National Cemetery announced the cancelation of Wreaths Across America, an annual and volunteer based tradition, due to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. "Due to the current COVID-19 situation across the nation and within the National Capital Region, it is with great regret that Arlington National Cemetery is canceling Wreaths Across America at Arlington National Cemetery and the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home Cemetery on December 19, 2020," a press release states. "Following a thorough analysis of the annual Wreaths Across America Wreaths-In event this year, and in close collaboration with the Joint Task Force, National Capital Region, we determined that...

Soldiers are holding modified funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery so they can continue to honor war heroes during the coronavirus pandemic. Guards were seen wearing masks during a military funeral for Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Belch at the cemetery in Virginia on Tuesday. Mourners observed social distancing at the service. US Army soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Old Guard or 3rd US Infantry Regiment were responsible for the rendering of honors at the funeral...

Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on Sept. 25 announced new criteria for interment (burial) and inurnment (preservation of cremated remains) at Arlington National Cemetery to keep from running out of space in the nation’s most hallowed military cemetery. Congress called on the Army to revise the criteria for burial at the cemetery in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, with the goal to keep it functioning as an active burial ground for another 150 years. That’s not possible under present rules. Today, some 95,000 burial spaces remain available, but with more than 20 million living veterans and 2 million military...

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to fallen American troops during an unannounced visit to Arlington National Cemetery ahead of Memorial Day. During their 20-minute visit Thursday afternoon, the first couple laid flags in section 34 of the cemetery, placing flags on the headstones of Frank Buckles, who was the last living World War I veteran, among others, according to the White House press pool. The visit comes ahead of Memorial Day weekend -- which the President will spend in Japan. The first couple leave for Japan on Friday, and will not be on US...

Officials at Arlington National Cemetery announced that they had evacuated the area after a bomb threat Wednesday morning. All visitors and staff had been safely removed from the area and the emergency services are investigating, according to the statement. "We will update the public as soon as we have additional information," officials added. DEVELOPING

Amy Air Forces Staff Sgt. John H. Canty was laid to rest under blue skies at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, [July 10, 2018] more than seven decades after his plane was shot down over occupied France. More than two dozen family and friends from his native Winsted, Conn., Georgia, Illinois and Nebraska gathered at the chapel for a private service, then Canty’s flag-draped casket was placed on a caisson for the procession to the gravesite for burial with full military honors. A lone drummer kept cadence as an honor guard escorted the horse-drawn caisson down a quiet tree-lined road....

The solemn ritual of a burial with military honors is repeated dozens of times a day, in foul weather or fair, at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring service members from privates to presidents. But in order to preserve the tradition of burial at the nation’s foremost military cemetery for future generations, the Army, which runs Arlington, says it may have to deny it to nearly all veterans who are living today. 10 Arlington is running out of room. Already the final resting place for more than 420,000 veterans and their relatives, the cemetery has been adding about 7,000 each year. At...

There is a very real possibility that war memorial crosses at Arlington National Cemetery could be in jeopardy, a federal judge warned in a chilling dissent to a court case involving the fate of a 90-year-old monument honoring soldiers in Bladensburg, Maryland. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to revisit an October decision that declared the 90-year-old "Peace Cross" was unconstitutional because it rests on public property. The monument is a memorial to the 49 men from Prince George's County, Maryland who died fighting for liberty in World War I. The memorial, paid for by the...

At the current rate, the cemetery will run out of room for burials in the early 2040s. It's raising some tough questions about eligibility WASHINGTON — Tough choices lie ahead for the caretakers of Arlington National Cemetery — the hallowed grounds are beginning to reach capacity, and options are being considered to preserve available space. At the current rate, the cemetery will run out of room for burials in the early 2040s. “There are some things that can be done that would significantly restrict who is eligible and therefore extend the life of the cemetery … over 100 years,” said...

Vice President Mike Pence speaks at Arlington Cemetery to mark Veterans Day 2017.

The organization that lays wreaths at the graves of fallen veterans has only half the wreaths it needs to ensure one is placed at every grave in Arlington National Cemetery. Wreaths Across America has collected sponsorships for about 126,800 wreaths as of Tuesday, but it needs 245,000 to cover every grave at Arlington. As a result, the organization is extending the deadline to sponsor a wreath for Arlington until Dec. 14, when the last truck filled with wreaths leaves Maine bound for Washington, according to a spokeswoman. Wayne Hanson, the Wreaths Across America chairman of the board and location director...

Recently we learned that Hillary Clinton conducted a swap shop in her State Department office where everything including positions on sensitive committees, regardless of credentials, was for sale. We could almost imagine the phone conversations between Hillary and her customers, “You’re on a terrorist watch list but need some vital secret information? Just a moment, let me see what that’s going for today – you know, the price for such accommodations changes all the time.” Unfortunately this is nothing new for the Clintons. When Bill Clinton was in the White House he was not only a sexual deviant, but a...

A soldier from the Louisiana National Guard who died alongside Marines in a training accident deserves to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, his father said Saturday. Former Green Beret Stephen Florich told Fox & Friends it is a “travesty” his son has been denied that honor because he was not on active duty at the time of his death. Most active duty or retired military members of military service are eligible for in-ground interment at Arlington. Members of the reserves or National Guard are not eligible unless they have been on active duty. “I think my son was very...

It's Memorial Day week. You can tell as you flip through the local paper; Memorial Day notices appear as sales headlines and attention grabbers. "Memorial Day Sale" and "Pre-Memorial Day Sale." Pretty soon, we'll see post-Memorial Day sale advertisements. Sales and barbecue are the two things that many people think about when Memorial Day is mentioned. What else? Well, for many Americans, it's the weekend that the pool opens and summer begins. But it means more than that. Memorial Day began soon after the Civil War as Decoration Day. It was the day the graves of the fallen members of...

Every graveyard tells a story, but few can talk to the living like Arlington National Cemetery. Visit the final home of war heroes from the Revolutionary War to 9/11 to the current struggle in Iraq. The American flag flies at half-staff more often than not as more than twenty-seven burials take place daily. Each section of the cemetery reflects a time in history, and each stone signifies a hero... (one hour video on Smithsonian Channel tonite at 8&11pm EDT)

The federal government may have shut its doors due to weather conditions — but the guards tasked to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier aren’t so quick to abandon their posts. With what’s being billed as the storm of the season dumping inches of snow on the Washington, D.C., region, leaving a cloud of closures in its wake — Capitol Hill, area schools, airports, Metro bus service and almost all government offices in Maryland, the capital city and Virginia — the stalwart sentries for some of America’s most revered military sites stand tall and fast. The Society of the Honor...

There was a quiet and peaceful stillness about the cemetery this January day. It was snowing heavily and the pristine white was accumulating between thousands of rows of headstones marking the graves of our true heroes who gave their lives in battle or died in old age, having served our country for decades, fighting enemies to preserve our freedom. A very old general was being buried that day and the Honor Guard and the ceremonial horses were barely visible in the heavy snow. I could hear the cadence of the steps and the horse hooves beating rhythmically against the asphalt....