Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
Located in Northern Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery is hallowed ground. The sign instructs visitors that the cemetery is our nation's most sacred shrine, for the bodies of more than 290,000 veterans and their families lie at rest within its 624 acres.
Photos and text © Gleaves Whitney 2005
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Pictured is the Visitors Center, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.
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Along Roosevelt Drive near the Women's Memorial, a majestic oak tree stands watch over graves.
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The United States has more than 100 national cemeteries, but Arlington is the most famous. Its east-facing slopes hold the remains of veterans of every U.S. war, including the Tomb of the Unknowns.
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What unites the memory of the almost 300,000 men and women buried at Arlington is one great distinction -- service to their country. "To each one, no matter what rank or station, whether decorated hero or unknown, belongs a place of honor" (from the Arlington National Cemetery brochure).
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The remains of John F. Kennedy, a World War II veteran and the 35th president of the United States, are marked by an eternal flame.
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Along with John F. Kennedy's remains are those of his wife Jacqueline and two of their children.
The remains of Robert F. Kennedy, the Kennedy administration's attorney general (and later a U.S. senator), are interred nearby. RFK interrupted his studies at Harvard to serve in the Navy during World War II. -
Patrick Kennedy's gravestone.
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John F. Kennedy's gravestone.