So this morning I went with my friend Lindsey to Arlington Cemetery to participate in Wreaths Across America. They place wreaths at each gravesite in Arlington to remember and honor our veterans. They place wreaths at other veterans cemeteries across the country too.
It was something awesome to be a part of.
This was the scene at the Arlington Cemetery metro station this morning. It was a madhouse - and kinda claustrophobic. I was coming down the escalator and had to get around all these people to get out of the metro station. (Though I guess preparing me for January and the inauguration...)
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| Arlington Cemetery metro station at 8:45am. |
Once we got into Arlington we walked around until we found a good spot to help place wreaths. We walked around a lot and I went to places I've never seen in Arlington.
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| trucks with the wreaths - they all came from maine |
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| before - this was from section 54 |
We walked around and ended up in Section 60 - which we didn't know until we were there and realized this is the section where all those killed iraq/afghanistan are buried. Seeing the gravestones marked with birthdates in the 1980s and killed in the 2000s brought tears to my eyes. And even worse was the pictures and items left next to these graves, especially those of the solider and their families/children. It was very humbling to be here. (I posted a link to an HBO documentary which I plan to watch which is all about Section 60). Also in that section are a lot of WWII, Korea & Vietnam veterans - and that is where I placed my wreaths.
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| Placing wreaths on graves. |
So I was able to place wreaths on 5 graves - mine were all WWII vets and most of them died in the early 1990s I tried to look up information on these men but wasn't finding anything. But it feels good to think about and honor these 5 men.
After we placed our wreaths we walked around Arlington a little bit more - and it was incredible to see how many wreaths were placed around the cemetery.
I was so glad I decided to do this and take a moment to think about all those who are currently serving and have served our country.
I have a lot of other things going on and I wanted to take the time to write just about this before I catch up to my other fun!
Hope you had a good weekend!
2 comments:
So moving! And it looks so gorgeous. I need to check out Arlington again when I am back in DC.
If you go next year, bring along a few stones to place (with your left hand) on the graves of the Jewish-American soldiers who are buried there. It symbolizes "tending the grave" and shows that the buried are not forgotten.
Awesome tradition, I would love to do this next year.
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