Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Robert E. Lee's home. It is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., next to the present day location of The Pentagon, and is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.

Notable burials

Notable military figures buried here include:

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• Charles Young (1864 - 1922), first African-American Lieutenant colonel in US Army
• "Hap" Arnold (1886-1950), first General of the US Air Force
• Bertram Tracy Clayton Congressman from New York, killed in action, 1918
• Jane Delano (1862-1919), Director, Army Nursing Corps
• John Aaron Rawlins (1831-1869), Civil War general, chief of staff and later Secretary of War to Ulysses S. Grant
• Sir John Dill (1881-1944), British Diplomat and Field Marshall
• Abner Doubleday (1819-1893), Civil War general erroneously credited with inventing baseball
• William "Bull" Halsey (1882-1959), World War II Navy Fleet Admiral
• Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977), American U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960
• Ira Hayes (1923-1955), one of the US Marines who planted flag on Mount Suribachi
• Włodzimierz B. Krzyżanowski (1824-1887), General
• Mark Matthews (1894-2005) last surviving Buffalo Soldier
• Audie Murphy, America's most decorated combat soldier of WW II, actor
• Alfred C. Richmond, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard
• Matt Urban (1919-1995), Colonel
• Robert Webb - B-17 pilot
• John Pershing (1860-1948), commanded American forces in World War I
• Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981), commanded 12th Army Group in Europe during World War II, first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Among those interred here are wartime service members who went on to other distinguished careers such as:

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• Hugo Black, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court.
• Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce.
• Bill Buckley, CIA Station Chief murdered in Beirut.
• Clark Clifford, Secretary of Defense, advisor to four Presidents.
• John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, CIA Director.
• Dwight F. Davis, Secretary of War, established the Davis Cup.
• Pierre Charles L'Enfant, military engineer, designed Washington, DC
• Medgar Evers, Civil Rights worker.
• Dashiell Hammett, author.
• Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, computing pioneer.
• Joe Louis, World Heavyweight boxing champion.
• John Roy Lynch, Slave, Major U.S. Army, Member of Congress.
• Lee Marvin, actor.
• Spottswood Poles, perhaps the greatest outfielder of the Negro Leagues.
• William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Frank Reynolds, Television news anchorman.
• Johnny Micheal Spann, CIA officer killed in Afghanistan.
• William Howard Taft, Secretary of War, President, and Chief Justice of the United States.

Notable civilians interned or commemorated at Arlington include:

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• Julian Bartley, Sr. (54), and his son Jay Bartley (20), killed together in the US Embassy, Nairobi terrorist attack.
• Dana Falkenberg (3), who was killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Buried in a mass grave with four others.
• Michael P. Hammer, American Foreign Service officer captured and murdered by guerillas in El Salvador.
• Marie Teresa Rios Versace, author of Fifteenth Pelican, basis for The Flying Nun TV show.

On July 24, 1998, U.S. Capitol Police Officers John Michael Gibson, 42, and Jacob Joseph Chestnut, 58, were killed in the line of duty and granted burials at the Cemetery.

Related Topics:
July 24 - 1998 - U.S. Capitol Police

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Nine Canadians are buried here, all of whom won the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Related Topics:
Canadians - Congressional Medal of Honor

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Whether or not they were wartime service members, presidents and defense secretaries are eligible to be buried at Arlington, since they oversaw the armed forces.

Related Topics:
Presidents - Defense secretaries

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