Posted on 07/17/2009 8:52:56 AM PDT by shove_it
July 17, 2009 | A few days after Memorial Day, I walked across the sprawling, plush lawn of Arlington National Cemetery. I headed toward Section 60, a remote area of the famous burial ground, where 600 service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest. Gina Gray, former public affairs officer at the cemetery, had testified that mismanagement at Arlington had resulted in callous treatment of personal mementos and artifacts left on grave sites in Section 60. The sun was out after several days of rain. As I approached the gravestones, I saw that Gray was right.
Left out in the rain to rot were crayon drawings by children who had lost a parent, photographs of soldiers with their babies, painted portraits and thank-you notes from grade-school kids to fallen soldiers they had never known. Colors of artworks ran together. Photos were blurred and wilted. Poems and letters were illegible wads of wet paper. A worker in a brown uniform wandered among the graves, blasting the headstones with a power washer without regard to what was left of the mementos -- or the obviously uncomfortable mourners looking on. Some items got further soaked. The worker blasted others across the grass. Many of them would end up in a black trash bin in the cemetery's service area.
Arlington's poor treatment of the mementos and gifts -- testaments to the personal cost of the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East -- appeared to stand in contrast to practices at other cemeteries.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
This is the second article in a special Salon investigation of America’s renowned cemetery. The first article is here:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/16/arlington_national_cemetery/
ping
Lawrence's Body Exhumed From Arlington
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 11) — The body of former Ambassador Larry Lawrence was exhumed from Arlington National Cemetery “early today,” a Pentagon spokesman said.
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told reporters that the movement was being handled “privately by the Lawrence family funeral home” and that he did not know any details of the matter.
The removal comes in the wake of a controversy over the waiver granted by the Pentagon to allow Lawrence to be buried at Arlington. Lawrence, who was serving as ambassador to Switzerland at the time of his death, was a contributor to the Democratic Party.
In the face of the growing controversy, Lawrence's widow, Sheila Davis Lawrence, wrote to President Bill Clinton saying that she would like to bring her husband's body home to San Diego.
House Republicans announced intentions to investigate the waiver since his Merchant Marine service, during which Lawrence was supposed to have been injured and was cited as a reason for the burial exemption, was unable to be documented.
Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) said Monday that his House Veterans Affairs oversight subcommittee would look into Lawrence's background. “The subcommittee still has an interest in questions concerning the State Department's actions in the granting of waivers for Mr. Lawrence,” Everett said.
I don’t know about Arlington, but the National cemetery that my husband is in doesn’t allow anything but flowers and maybe a small flag.
In Oklahoma City at the location of the Murrah Bombing, people put items on the fence in rememberance and every last item was left for awhile and then taken to be stored until the Museum opened. If we could do it in OKC, then what is wrong with the Federal Government and Arlington National Cemetary. This is a disgrace.
I believe I once read that momentos left at the foot of The Wall were collected daily and archived. Could this also be done at Arlington?
Maybe I’m callous but what is the cemetery supposed to do with all this non-waterproof stuff left at grave sites? Are they supposed to set up a museum for it?
And why are people leaving stuff that will look like garbage after the first downpour?
People have no common sense these days.
Yep ... that’s how it is at Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago.
They rules are VERY strict about what you can place on the graves.
Over the holidays they allow a grave blanket.
It’s stated very clearly that once things look worn they will be disposed of...
Both my folks are buried there in the same grave..
“...appeared to stand in contrast to practices at other cemeteries.”
Maybe at the National Cem’s, but at other cemeteries, it’s not so at all.
People don’t understand that this is standard procedure in most places. I’m a graveyard nut and I’m well aware of it.
That’s nothing, there was a story a couple weeks ago about how the funeral home handling the bodies up there were mistreating the bodies. Corpses of vets left in unrefridgerated garages for months waiting for burial. Essentially left to decompose until they got around to burying them
My mom and dad are both buried at Arlington. But I think this article AND the concept are off base.
This is not the Vietnam War Memorial, which covers, what, a hundred yards? Arlington has over 300,000 people buried there and covers more than 620 acres. It is huge.
I go to Arlington once or twice a year, it is one of the most beautiful, somber places that exist.
I know the regulations on what can and cannot be placed on gravesites, and I don’t give it a second thought when I see items there heaped on and around graves. People need to say goodbye to their loved ones in their own way, and if that means breaking the rules, nobody is going to say anything. I spend time looking at the items myself.
But Arlington is not the place to act as an archive of what people leave there. It is an archive of the sacrifice and honor of the men and women who rest there.
Furthermore, this article is from Salon, a LEFTIST POS rag if there ever was one, and they don’t give a rat’s ass about our troops other than what they can do to drag them down, deface them or destroy them.
that is the same at the veterans burial site where I live.
I didn’t realize Arlington had different rules.
As a graveyard afficianado, I’d have to agree with you, largely.
Honestly, I don’t know why we have to keep every cigarette butt (Vietnam Memorial) in air-tight storage.
And also, I think most people know that if they don’t put “permanent” items at the site, it’ll disintegrate pretty easily, or get blown away (just by wind storms).
The main thing is that the PEOPLE supposedly maintaining the burial site don’t desecrate it further. Let the items be; put them back if they’re obvious when nearby. Let nature take care of it.
PhiKapMom, I couldn’t disagree more. That is not what Arlington is about.
I couldn’t agree with you more, armymarinedad.
These scumbags at Salon should be horsewhipped for even setting foot inside the grounds at Arlington. If I saw one of those jerks with their cameras and notepads in there, God help them.
I agree with you and believe the folks at Arlington should bear no responsibility for this.
Either specifically tell people coming in they cannot leave items or pick them up. I read the entire article and having someone cleaning the tombstones while people are present and blowing away items is wrong.
I personally would not leave anything — I know what Arlington is for but it is happening and it makes them look bad like they don’t care which is probably closer to the truth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.