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Category: Arlington National Cemetary

  • Trump joins Wreaths Across America in laying wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery

    trump wreath
    By Robert Gearty | Fox News

    President Trump paid a Saturday visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where thousands of volunteers had just taken part in the rain in the annual holiday wreath-laying tribute to those who served—and died– in America’s wars.

    Trump made the unscheduled stop to the famous military ceremony about 2:15 p.m. ET, hours after the event began.

    “They do a great job, a really great job. Thank you,” Trump said during the visit.

    Every December, Wreaths Across America places wreaths on the graves at Arlington and other veterans cemeteries.

    “Spending a rainy Saturday morning helping with Wreaths Across America at Arlington!!” Jessica Moyer told her followers on Facebook. “Such a humbling experience.”

    Read the entire article at: Fox News.

  • World War II B-24 Pilot Laid To Rest

    The Tribune Review reports the remains of Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Eugene P. Ford were interred Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. Also interred were ashes of Vietnam veteran Richard Stanton Ford, the son the pilot never met.

    The 21-year-old Ford, of Latrobe, PA, was the pilot of a B-24J aircraft known as the Tulsamerican.

    On Dec. 17, 1944, the Tulsamerican was the lead aircraft targeting oil refineries in Germany when it came under attack and was forced to crash in the Adriatic Sea.

    The Military Times link is here:  https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/12/05/wwii-pilots-remains-interred-at-arlington-along-with-sons/

     

  • RIP, SFC Jonn Lilyea (Pinned as first post)

    RIP, SFC Jonn Lilyea (Pinned as first post)

    Well, we all end the Land Nav course of life someday, and for Jonn, that day was yesterday. He had a heart attack and passed away at the hospital. All men die, not all men truly live. Jonn did though, Lord knows Jonn did.

    Wish I knew something to say to help with the pain, but after a sleepless night and some decidedly non-manly sobbing, I just don’t even know what to say. He was a friend, he was a mentor, and I’ll miss him. From meeting my wife to getting my job to the son I named after Jonn, I pretty much owe him in some part for everything I have, and it’s not a debt I take lightly. (Somewhat humorously, my last actual conversation with Jonn was about how his namesake, Ransom Jonn Seavey is a fat happy kid who just plays….until Moana comes on and then dude sits there all starry eyed. I postulated that giving him the name must have made him love what Jonn always called lovingly the “Little Brown Women.”)

    As twisted as it is, I’ll never forget the exact moment that Jonn and I bonded. I was blogging at The Sniper, and he had this enterprise going, but the old schoolers will remember that if we got 10 comments back then than the post was on fire. But “Army Sergeant” invited the two of us to Winter Soldier, and although I *internet knew* Jonn, I didn’t *really* know him. We got to the hearings and the IVAW people segregated us from everyone else and gave us full time minders that literally read our posts as they went up. We were both almost at the bailing point when one guy got up and told some asinine story about how they blew up an old lady with a Mk 19, even though she was bringing them groceries. The story was so preposterous on the face of it that Jonn and I started guffawing. Here we were in a room full of dirty old 60’s hippies who were crying and Jonn and I were laughing so hard we started crying too.

    I’m not going to go through his whole bio, you guys know it probably as well or better than I do. He was a hero in every sense of the word, but the most amazing thing was that dude was harder than iron, but he had a soft spot, which was forgiving but just as no-nonsense. He didn’t care what anyone did in the military but was grateful for that service, and never valued his own service higher than anyone else’s. The way he became the IVAW whisperer and helped some of those guys out was the epitome of what the brotherhood of veterans was all about. Sure, he’d give them no end of shit, but if they needed help Jonn would drop whatever he was doing and see that they got that help.

    Nothing has been locked down as far as a service. We know he wanted to be buried in his uniform in Arlington, a place I’ve been to many times with him. As things become clearer I’ll let you guys know what’s up. Ditto the blog, we’ll talk about that after we’re done grieving.

    If you are a person of faith, I’d ask you to pray for Jonn’s family during this time of profound mourning. If you are a warrior, drink to our friend as he makes his way to Valhalla. They’ll probably make him the sergeant at arms there so he can toss out the phonies that show up uninvited with ludicrous stories of Top Secret derring-do.

    As I sat there last night remembering all the times I’d spent with Jonn I thought of Invictus, which fits Jonn to a T.

    Out of the night that covers me,
    Black as the pit from pole to pole,
    I thank whatever gods may be
    For my unconquerable soul.

    In the fell clutch of circumstance
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.
    Under the bludgeonings of chance
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the Horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace of the years
    Finds and shall find me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll,
    I am the master of my fate,
    I am the captain of my soul.

    RIP buddy. We love you.

  • Feds hunt for Arlington perv

    Feds hunt for Arlington perv

    DC’s FOX5 reports that the FBI is looking for the fellow pictured above because, supposedly he was inappropriately touching a female child repeatedly while the crowd watched the President lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at about 11:00 AM on Monday, Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery.

    The man is described as a Hispanic male between 50 and 60 years old. He is about 5’5” to 5’7” tall and has short, spiky, grey and black hair. He was wearing a blue or grey short-sleeved shirt with dark blue shorts.
    photo

    Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the FBI’s Washington Field Office at 202-278-2000, your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. Tips can also be left at https://tips.fbi.gov/

  • Vietnam helicopter pilots and their monument at Arlington

    Vietnam helicopter pilots and their monument at Arlington

    Military Times reports that the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association has been successful in their efforts to get a monument established at Arlington National Cemetery honoring helicopter crews who served in Vietnam.

    The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association members sought action from Congress, and through publicity and nationwide support from the community, the Vietnam Helicopter Crew Monument Act was passed in March. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, introduced the bipartisan legislation. Companion legislation was introduced on the House side by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.

    Baldwin told Army Times that she was moved by [Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bob Hesselbein]’s stories of his own experiences during Vietnam, including “stories of his friends and comrades that he still knows and those that he lost,” she said.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the tip.

  • Pokemon Go and Arlington National Cemetery

    Pokemon Go and Arlington National Cemetery

    Arlington_National_Cemetery

    As if they need to be told, tourists at Arlington National Cemetery are being warned by the staff that it’s not appropriate for them to play their video games on hallowed ground, according to the Washington Post;

    “We do not consider playing ‘Pokémon Go’ to be appropriate decorum on the grounds of [Arlington National Cemetery]. We ask all visitors to refrain from such activity,” the cemetery’s Twitter account said Tuesday afternoon.

    The game, a mobile app called Pokémon Go, was released July 6 and, like a fictional zombie apocalypse, has spread at an unprecedented rate. The premise is simple: The player’s digital avatar has to collect Pokémon, but to do so, the play has to explore the actual world as the virtual Pokémon world has been overlaid atop it using Google Maps data.

    The mixture of real world locales and fictional creatures has led people to collect Pokémon in places where playing a game might be inappropriate, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the former site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

    Because America just can’t grow up and act it’s age.

    Thanks to Doug and Chief Tango for the link.

  • This Just Doesn’t Seem Right

    During the early part of World War II, the US Army Air Forces had a pilot shortage.  A relatively small group of women helped mitigate that shortage through various programs.  The first two such programs were the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).  In 1943, these two programs and organizations were merged to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.

    The WASP program, like the US Merchant Marine, at the time was technically a form of civilian wartime service – a paramilitary organization vice uniformed military service.  Congress did consider making the WASPs a formal part of the Army Air Forces, but ultimately declined to do so.  Later in the war, sufficient USAF male pilots had been trained to eliminate the pilot shortfall.  The WASP program was then terminated and its members were released.

    Both WASPs and US Merchant Marine personnel serving during World War II were later granted military veteran status by Congress with the passage of the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977 – though it took a Federal court decision in 1988 before US Merchant Mariners were recognized as veterans under that act.  And since 2002 each group has been deemed eligible for inurnment (the placement of cremated remains in a cemetery storage area, often above ground) in Arlington National Cemetery as a military veteran.

    Until last year, that is.

    Sometime last year the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, determined that WASPs and World War II Merchant Mariners were no longer eligible for inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery.  Curiously enough, both groups apparently remain eligible for both inurnment and in-ground burial at National Cemeteries run by the VA.  (The Army operates Arlington National Cemetery and the US Soldiers’ & Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in DC; the VA operates all other US National Cemeteries.)

    You know, this seems just plain wrong to me.  One can legitimately debate whether or not Congress should have granted members of the WASPs or World War II US Merchant Mariners veteran status.  However, the fact remains that Federal law did exactly that in 1977.  Both groups performed hazardous duty in support of the national war effort under the direction and control of military officials.  Both groups suffered a substantial rate (3.5+%) of fatalities.  And for the last 38+ years, members of both groups have been, by law, World War II veterans.

    Under Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 553, section 15a, any former member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably is eligible for inurnment at Arlington..  It seems to me that people declared by Congress to be military veterans due to service as WASPs or Merchant Mariners during World War II who served honorably deserve the same.  If all other vets whose service ended honorably are eligible for inurnment in Arlington, I can’t see any good reason why members of these two groups should be excluded.

    But maybe that’s just me.

  • Arlington superintendent canned

    According to Stars & Stripes, Jack E. Lechner Jr. the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery was fired because “a review of his performance “called into question his ability to serve successfully as a senior leader.”” The Army wouldn’t elaborate beyond that statement. Actually, I’d expect that statement to be followed by an announcement of a six-figure bonus in the current leadership climate we’ve seen at the Pentagon.

    So this guy, Lechner, must really suck at his job. He’s only been at it for a year. The guy before him lost bodies of veterans in the municipal dump, had headstones turn up in a nearby creek and he was allowed to retire after years of mismanagement, so I can only imagine how bad Lechner screwed up. Or maybe he just sucked at his job and didn’t suck up to the brass at lightspeed.

    Thanks to Bobo for the link.