HONORING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED

By  //  May 25, 2014

Arlington National Cemetery

ABOVE VIDEO:  This PBS Mini-Documentary on Arlington National Cemetery explains the history behind this hallowed ground.

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a great grand-daughter of Martha Washington.

"On behalf of a grateful nation."
“On behalf of a grateful nation.”

The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.

In an area of 624 acres, veterans and military casualties from each of the nation’s wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the American Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

The U.S. Department of the Army administers Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery. The Department of Veterans Affairs or the National Park Service (NPS) administers the other national cemeteries. The NPS administers Arlington House (the Custis-Lee Mansion) and its grounds as a memorial to Robert E. Lee.

ON THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2014, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED, AND THE MANY WHO HAVE PAID THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY THE GREATEST IN HISTORY – AND PROTECTED OUR RIGHTS AS SET FORTH IN THE CONSTITUTION.