Arlington National Cemetery: Flash Facts



• Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place of over 400,000 men and women.

• An average of 25 burials are performed each day.

• Arlington National Cemetery covers 624 acres of land.

• More than three million tourists pass through the cemetery each year.

• There are about 8,500 trees at Arlington National Cemetery, in 300 different varieties.

• Two state champion trees reside in the cemetery, signifying that they are the largest trees of their species in Virginia.

• Every gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery has been photographed and documented, and can be located using the cemetery’s web-based application, ANC Explorer:

• The first military burial occurred at Arlington National Cemetery in 1864, for Private William Christman.

• Those eligible to be buried at Arlington include active duty military and retired reservists, recipients of the military’s highest honors, and former POWs.

• Each year for Memorial Day, a flag is placed by every tombstone, monument, and columbarium row in the cemetery. Volunteers continue this practice during the holiday season with wreaths instead of flags.

• The Tomb of the Unknowns is guarded 24/7 by the best, most qualified members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as The Old Guard. Formed in 1784, The Old Guard is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the Army.

• U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery include John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft.

• The Kennedy gravesite is the final resting place not only of the former president, but also his wife Jackie Kennedy, his two brothers Robert and Edward Kennedy, as well as a memorial to his brother Joe Jr.

• The son and grandson of Abraham Lincoln are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

• There are almost 4,000 former slaves buried in Section 27, land that used to be known as Freedman’s Village, Arlington’s first free neighborhood.

• Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, is linked to two significant figures of American history: it was built by the step-grandson of George Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, and eventually passed on to General Robert E. Lee by marriage to Parke Custis’s daughter, Mary.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download