The hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, including a glimpse of Robert E. Lee’s house:

The tomb of the Unknown Soldiers:

The Tomb, the guard, and a view of DC (not a good shot – you can see the Jefferson Memorial from that spot…and the Washington Monument is just behind that big evergreen on the left):

The changing of the guard…a “must-see” ceremony, and the whole reason we went. Did I see it? nope.

The day was very sunny and even hot. Bill got his first sunburn of the year – the earliest, I think. The father of a boy in Fritz’s cub scout den is in the Old Guard and told Bill that they were still on Winter hours and were changing the guard every half hour. I don’t know what happened between Wednesday and Saturday. We arrived at the Cemetery at the top of the hour and missed that ceremony. We got to the Tomb around 10:15 am and loitered in the area for a while before we realized that there wouldn’t be another ceremony until 11 am. I kept deferring the hungry baby, and he was quite happy in the shade, but when I tried to watch the ceremony, he just got too fussy for a rite that demanded SILENCE. So Bill watched it – for the second time – with the 3 older kids while the little ones and I sat on a bench a bit away and listened. It’s ok. The boys really liked it and Billy has been imitating the robotic movements of the guard every since.

As we were leaving, we stopped by the grave of Audie Murphy, which is the second most popular (JFK is #1). Bill was pretty disgusted that I didn’t know who Audie Murphy was. He is the most decorated WWII vet. And then he went into Hollywood.

His grave is very plain and at the end of a row near a sidewalk. There is a little sign near his grave that requests that no coins be thrown. Sure enough, there was a quarter on the grass in front of his grave. As we turned to leave, I noticed a pile of coins on the sidewalk next to his grave. I asked Bill if he knew what it was all about, and he said no. Then Billy asked why you weren’t supposed to throw coins. I said you aren’t supposed to throw coins because it makes lawn mowing difficult…but the question really is this: why would anyone WANT to throw coins?

As we left, we passed memorial after memorial. The whole way to the car, BIlly asked, “Who died here, Mom?”

“Nobody died here, Billy. This is a memorial saying that this tree is dedicated to the soldiers from this unit.”

“Oh….who died here, Mom?” At the next tree.

“Nobody, Billy. It says that THIS tree is dedicated to the soldiers from THIS unit.”

“Oh…who died HERE, Mom?” At the next tree.

It was a long walk to the car.