Arlington National Cemetery is a solemn place to visit. I have many times walked the paved streets separating sections filled with those pristine white memorial stones that give honor to so many who have fallen in service to our nation....and served our country in many and various ways. That solemnity overcomes me from the time that I drive through the gate....to when I drive out that same gate. I have never been there on a Memorial Day or any other day where there were large crowds. It's always been walking with only a few people here or there....and an occasional burial service where a horse-driven caisson wagon passes....as I stop in silence until they are well passed.
Arlington Cemetery is 639 acres of which 14 acres have been reserved and dedicated to fallen heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan....in what is known as....Section 60. There is a book published with that name....Section 60....Arlington National Cemetery....Where War Comes Home....(Robert M. Poole 2014). I have that book in my hand now. My father is buried in that Section 60....interred over a decade before Desert Storm.
I hope for two things considering the controversy now in the news about Section 60....one that it disappears quickly.....and two that memory of this recently reserved section has been revived and stays with us.
