Arlington Nat'l Cemetery

The_River

Active member
I have the great honor of laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown along with three other seniors from my JROTC program and will be doing so on April 18th. Anything on how this may go about?
 
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I remember visiting Gen. Lee's home when I spent time at Arlington. I also spent some time at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and it is interesting that on Novemder 11 1921 the British Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty presented our highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, there, to the American Unknown Warrior on behalf of King George V, at the same time laying the King's wreath on the tomb.

This highest of British awards was also made to 5 other Americans, 1 Swede, 1 Swiss and 1 Ukrainian:-

Captain Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson 1883-1954. Mount Carmel, Illinois. V.C.

Lance Corporal Wm. Henry Metcalf 1894-1968. Waite Township, Maine. V.C.


Sgt George Henry Mullin 1892-1963. Portland Oregon. V.C.


Sgt. Raphael Louis Zengel 1894-1977. Fairbault, Minnesota.V.C.

Ordinary Seaman Wm. Henry Seeley 1840-1914. Topsham, Maine. V.C.

Trooper Peter Brown 1837-1894. Sweden.V.C.

Corporal Ferdinand Christian Schiess 1856-84. Bergedorf, Berne. Switzerland. V.C.

Corporal Filip Konowal 1888-1959. Podolsky, Ukraine. V.C.


:salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::salute:


I have info. re. the reason for each award available.
 
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Look sharp Alex, stand straight and remember all who walk on that hallowed ground are surrounded by better men than they. It is a humbling experience.
 
It was Lee's home before his traitorous defection.
It was taken away from his sorry self.

Kind of sad you being selected for such an honor with so little knowledge of the ceremonies.
Crack a book or three.
 
Are you referring to the best general in the Army at the time of the wanton invasion of his state during the war of northern aggression? Maybe after 152 years it might be time to let
Removed by admin: No need for comments like that in here!

Now what was the topic.....
 
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Is it true to say that Lee was offered leadership of the armies of the North but in all conscience just could not bring himself to take up arms against his home state?
 
It is indeed Del Boy from what I know of Civil War history...

I was lucky enough to be visiting Arlington and the Tomb of the Unknowns in 2003 during the Korean War commemorations. Had the privilege of chatting to a couple of old US Marines who were in town and who were kind enough to share some stories. Even bumped into another Aussie dig (a Major - there was an awful lot of 'allied' military in town too) who'd picked me out of the crowd at the Tomb during the Changing of the Guard... Was a great experience overall... glad I had a chance to see it.
 
Are you referring to the best general in the Army at the time of the wanton invasion of his state during the war of northern aggression? Maybe after 152 years it might be time to let Removed by admin.

Now what was the topic.....

Removed by admin: No need for comments like that in here!

Even today, a favorite epitaph from southerners for those folks that live north of the Mason Dixie Line is "damn Yankee" ... for many southerners, the Civil War will never be completely over. Their family histories are littered with stories of Sherman's March or stories of what transpired in the aftermath of the war (it wasn't a pretty picture by anybody's standard). The carpetbagger handling of the South, was very heavy-handed to put it mildly, Many of these individuals treated the South as their personal piggy bank, and set out to steal every single dollar they could ... when you also add the fact that Black History is also a portion of the South's history that we are still dealing with today, the picture is even more muddied..... so, just maybe, you can see why the Civil War is still a touchy period of America's history.
 
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I discovered how raw the tragic episode of civil war remained at an early age, 16, my first sea trip to USA , circe 1950. Our Ship's Officers were entertaining a group of American Ship's Officers and everything was proceeding a little more than merrily when one of our side made what he considered to be an amusing aside regarding the war. Immediately, one of the American jumped in - ' Don't you make jokes about it - my Gandpappy was killed in that war.'
I never forgot that, and when I was a mature man and spent time in Shenandoah, Virginia, Carolina and Georgia I was fulfilling a life ambition, and soaked up the atmospheres of the names I had known for so long.

Since then I have I have felt satisified that I paid my respects and enjoyed doing so, more than you can imagine.:salute:

God Bless America.
 
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