Washington 2

Day 62

Today we visited the Arlington National Cemetery and were overwhelmed by the enormity of the site.  Its 624 acres holds the remains of over 320,000 service men and women from every war and major conflict in the United States.  It is still an active cemetery and three funerals were held while we were there.  I had read in the paper this morning that five more Americans were killed yesterday in Afghanistan.

John F Kennedy and Jackie lies beneath the eternal flame and the grave of his brother Robert is nearby marked simply be a wooden cross.  I think Edward Kennedy is also nearby but there was work being done and we didn’t see it. 

Before moving on to the Tomb of the Unknown we stopped to see the headstone of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of the Second World War.  His grave was no different to any other just a simple white headstone.  It is the second most visited site in the cemetery.

We were fortunate that we arrive at the Tomb of the Unknown just as they began their Changing of the Guard. A sentinel of the 3^rd US Infantry maintains vigil around the clock.  Here nlies the remains of a world war 1 soldier but he has since been joined by a serviceman from the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam.  The Vietnam unknown was removed when he was identified by DNA in 1998.

Next we visited the Marine Corps war memorial  just outside the walls of the cemetery.   It is a massive sculpture based on the iconic photo of raising the flag at Iwo Jima taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima towards the end of the Second World War.

From there we went for lunch and spent the next few hours at the Smithsonian.  We spent most of our time at the Air and Space Museum.  WE then were picked up in our bus and taken to the airport for our flight to New York. 

It has been a great tour which I would highly recommend.  It is such an easy way to see so much with no hassles of major airports or trying to find your way around.  Everything is taken care of for you right down to that when we go to the hotels we just pick up our keys and our bags are waiting in our rooms.  The company does 2 trips in America that I am aware of – the one we did on the west coast but they also do one on the east coast.  If you are coming to America it is worth looking at their web site: www.mauivaaircruise.com