4:1 Arlington National Cemetery, The Story Continues (Part II)

The sacred grounds of the hills of Arlington, VA, have become less of a news story, yet increasing prior practices, lack of leadership, oversight, and discrepancies are increasing. The story of the gravemarkers in the streams of ANC even skipped my attention a couple of weeks ago (News Video Below). On the other hand, behind the scenes, within the confines of ANC, behind the windows of the Pentagon, and in the halls of the House of Representatives, the story of ANC continues at full steam. Today, the Secretary of the Army, Honorable John McHugh and Inspector General of the Army, LtGen Steven Whitcomb gave testimony to the House Armed Services Committee on the Army Investigation of Arlington National Cemetery (Video will be added once the DOD releases the official copy).

In the first half of the testimony ending at 1100 this morning, Secretary McHugh commented that of the 211 graves in the Inspector General Report released 09 Jun 2010, 27 have been thus far resolved. Twenty-one days later, this is an average of 1 per day—you could expect another 6 months in this process of just locating and identifying the missing/misplaced Veterans. The other issues at hand are sight maps, burial cards, and records that need to be transformed from paper to digital media. With 330,000+ Veterans interred at Arlington, the US Army is looking at outside sources to assist with the digitization of those records. An effort that is well worth it!  


In the second half of the live streaming testimony ending at 1305 today, Honorable McHugh commented in reference to the news reports of the gravemarkers in the streams of Arlington and the Patuxent River Refuge. “Prior to 1994, it was an accepted practice to use damaged, excess gravemarkers for stream or structural stability.” “This practice is no longer utilized, I find it distasteful to say the least, and now the practice is to ground and discard them in an appropriate manner.”

I have been following as closely as I can, the ANC Investigation and the Army’s current role in the post-investigation. I am deeply pained by the actions with the previous leadership at ANC but have high faith with Secretary McHugh, The House Armed Services Committee, and the forward movement in correcting the wrongs. Let me remind all of you that read this, although there have been deeply disturbing wrongdoings at ANC, keep in mind the US Army, US Navy, US Marines, US Air Force, US Coast Guard, and the ANC Internment Employees have and continue to provide the utmost honorable funerals without controversy. With an average of 100+ ceremonies per day, these Honor Guard Units and ANC Staff have a high Operations Tempo unmatched. In the words of the United States Air Force Honor Guard "In Honore et Dignitate," To Honor with Dignity.

Source Story: Arlington Investigation/House Armed Services Committee

Photo Source: Hills of Arlington, Publisher of Blog, Headstones found lining stream bed, Arlington National Cemetery Map of Locations of Headstones in Streams, Honor Guard, Publisher of Blog