thedrifter
05-24-08, 08:01 AM
Video:
2008 'Flags-In' ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
Video by Rick Vasquez, Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes online edition, Thursday, May 22, 2008
In a tradition that dates back to 1948, soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and other servicemembers from each of the branches of the military gathered at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday for the "Flags-In" ceremony that marks the beginning of Memorial Day weekend in the nation's capital. An American flag was placed at each of the more than 220,000 graves in the cemetery.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55036
Ellie
thedrifter
05-24-08, 09:43 AM
Burial at Arlington <br />
by Douglas Stone (more by this author) <br />
Posted 05/23/2008 ET <br />
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had the privilege of attending a burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery the other day. The veteran...
thedrifter
05-27-08, 05:31 AM
http://www.militarytimes.com/projects/arlington_pano/
Ellie
thedrifter
05-27-08, 05:33 AM
Bush pays tribute to troops at Arlington
By Deb Riechmann - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 26, 2008 13:02:21 EDT
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush paid tribute Monday to America’s fighting men and women who died in battle, saying national leaders must have “the courage and character to follow their lead” in preserving peace and freedom.
“On this Memorial Day, I stand before you as the commander in chief and try to tell you how proud I am,” Bush told an audience of military figures, veterans and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. Of the men and women buried in this hallowed cemetery, he said, “They’re an awesome bunch of people and the United States is blessed to have such citizens.”
Bush and his wife, Laura, traveled from the White House across the Potomac River to the rolling hillsides of Arlington National Cemetery, where he first placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then went to an amphitheater to speak of those who “made the ultimate sacrifice to allow a free civilization to endure and flourish.”
The people who wear the U.S. uniform, the president said, represent “the last best hope for mankind.”
His Memorial Day outing came with the war in Iraq now in its sixth year and a day after Bush welcomed to the White House members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycling group, who gave him a cowhide vest jacket and made him an honorary member of their organization.
In his talk Monday, Bush said, “It is a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom that the number of headstones in a place like this grows with every new Memorial Day.”
“It only remains for us, the heirs of their legacy, to have the courage and the character to follow their lead to preserve America as the greatest nation on earth and the last best hope for mankind,” he said.
“The men and women we honor here served for liberty. They sacrificed for liberty, and in countless acts of courage they died for liberty,” Bush added. “From far away lands they were returned to cemeteries like this one where broken hearts received their broken bodies. They found peace beneath the white head stones in the land they fought to defend.”
“In a world where freedom is constantly under attack and in a world where our security is challenged,” he said, “the joys of liberty are often purchased by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than themselves.”
“Today we lift up our hearts, especially to those who have fallen in the past year,” the president said.
Ellie