Thursday, February 28, 2008

Arlington Cemetery is a go

Arlington National Cemetery called and left a message this afternoon that they got the confirmation that they needed from the National Archives in St. Louis that my father (WWII First Army veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, crossing of the Rhine and Ruhr, etc.) is eligible to have his ashes placed there. It was touch-and-go for a while, since all the records we had was one old photocopy of the front of his honorable discharge, and a fire at the National Archives had destroyed a lot of Army veteran records from 1912-1959.

The message was long and and she rattled off her standard speech quickly - something about how they'll do a short military ceremony with gun firing and the flag will go on the caisson (I'm not sure how this works - over the teensy little box of ashes?), then they will do the flag-folding deal and give it to the next of kin. (I still have to actually get the flag, but supposedly they're available free for this purpose from all post offices - I have the form ready to go).

So I'll call back tomorrow and schedule it. I have no idea how long this takes to schedule.
Hmm, I wonder if it would be too tacky to videotape it. What do you think? (I'm sure I wouldn't be the first one).

The video clip is a 4-minute BBC piece on Arlington National Cemetery.

7 comments:

LBTEPA said...

Tha's splendid news :)

Spokane Al said...

That is a good thing and a very well deserved honor.

For a flag I suggest you go to

http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/bbene/bflags.asp

for details.

You can also purchase a flag that have been flown over the Capitol via your congressional representative.

Take care.

Rainmaker said...

Good to hear that you were able to work through it all.

It's a very special ceremony that can't be compared to anything anywhere else. Unfortunately I went to one last year for an active duty friend - but I'll never forget it.

Like Al said - take care.

Comm's said...

It is a true honor to be at Arlington considering they are running out of room.

Its a good thing.

Brent Buckner said...

Glad that came together.

runr53 said...

Arlington is the most known of all the National Cemeteries and a beautiful final resting place. It is fitting to honor one of our "Rough Men" Run Good!

“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."George Orwell

runr53 said...

Arlington is the most known of all the National Cemeteries and a beautiful final resting place. It is fitting to honor one of our "Rough Men" Run Good!

“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."George Orwell