Have you ever driven by a military cemetery and got a chill mingled with sadness and respect?
Military cemeteries are meant to evoke some emotion and the most notable are the National cemeteries at Arlington, Normandy, Punchbowl and the USS Arizona. Arlington, in Virginia, has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guarded by American men or women of the 3rd regiment U.S. Army. There are three bodies in the tomb, one each from WWI, WWII and Korea. The M-14’s the guard carries is loaded and would be used if someone tried to deface the honored tomb.
Normandy has a U.S. National Cemetery, even though it is in France. It holds the remains of more than 9,000 men who died during D-Day and its aftermath.
Punchbowl and the USS Arizona are in Hawaii, and are among the most moving I have ever seen. The vibrant grass of Punchbowl, surrounded by memorials dedicated to the battles of the Pacific, is a beautiful and a serene tribute to the more than 53,000 individuals who died in the Pacific during WWII.
Besides those who died in conflict, national cemeteries can include Veterans, family and notables. The list of the interred at Punchbowl include former Congresswoman Patsy Mink; Stanley Armour Dunham, grandfather of President Barack Obama; Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Inouye; and well-known war correspondent Ernie Pyle.
To me, the most gut-wrenching National cemetery is the USS Arizona. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed thousands of sailors and Marines, 900 of whom were entombed forever in the Arizona. Oil still seeps from the ship, and the somber music played on the monument spanning the wreck made me cry.
Remarkably, this Memorial Day one of the sailors who died on the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, will be laid to rest. Seaman Howard Magers, will finally have his 21-gun salute. Scientists used dental, anthropological and DNA analysis to identify Magers’ remains.
That’s one less POW/MIA, but one more potent reminder.
