Arlington national cemetery who is buried there

Share this. Pay respects to thousands who have given their lives in the name of U. More About DC. Women in Washington Group Itinerary. In the Steps of the President. More than three million tourists pass through the cemetery each year. There are about 8, trees at Arlington National Cemetery, in different varieties. Two state champion trees reside in the cemetery, signifying that they are the largest trees of their species in Virginia.

Each year for Memorial Day, a flag is placed by every tombstone, monument, and columbarium row in the cemetery. The gravesite is adorned with a simple white wooden cross and a small grey granite foot marker. After his assassination in , President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington.

Each year millions of people visit the gravesite of the 35th President marked by an eternal flame. The first female surgeon in the U. Army, Dr. She also trained nurses for the Japanese Red Cross in the early s. Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis' cousin, Mary Randolph, was recorded as the first person to be buried on the grounds that would later become Arlington Cemetery.

Joe Louis Barrow, known to the boxing world as Joe Louis, is considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, he was a cultural icon during the s and s. Truman desegregated the military. The primary burial ground for white Civil War soldiers became Section Meanwhile, Section 27 became the area for African American soldiers and freed people; more than 3, freed African Americans are buried in Section Initially, being buried at a national cemetery was not considered an honor, but it ensured that service members whose families could not afford to bring them home for a funeral were given a proper burial.

This tradition continues today , and is one reason why Arlington transformed from being one of many national cemeteries into the premier national military cemetery. The event was so popular that in , an amphitheater was constructed to hold the official ceremonies.

Renamed the James Tanner Amphitheater , it reopened in after restoration. Beginning in the late s, high-ranking veterans began requesting burial in the Officers' Sections Sections 1, 2 and 3. In , the U. Arlington National Cemetery consequently expanded to include Sections 21, 22 and In , Congress authorized a designated section for Confederate soldiers, at a time when the nation was trying to reconcile after the Civil War.