Read On Hallowed Ground Online
Authors: Robert M Poole
On Hallowed Ground (53 page)
91
. “Remains of Vietnam Unknown Identified,” The
Washington Post,
June 29, 1998.
92
. “Veterans Groups Oppose the Attempt by Blassie Family to Obtain Top Medal,” Aug. 8, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net./unk-vn61.htm.
93
. The Blassie family fought to keep the Medal of Honor for their kinsman, arguing that the award was given to him as the
Vietnam Unknown, a position in which he served for fourteen years. Bonnie Edwards, “U.S. Stripped Medal of Honor from Unknown
Vietnam Soldier,”
U.S. Veteran Dispatch
, June-Oct. 1998.
94
. Jim Garramone, “Vietnam Unknown Crypt at Arlington to Remain Empty,” American Forces Press Service, June 17, 1999.
95
. Tom Holland, scientific director of the Central Identification Laboratory, cautions that the 400 boxes do not represent
400 sets of remains. Of 1,000 boxes in the lab, about 40 percent are Vietnam War–related cases. M.E.reports:
One box might contain 4-5 individuals; conversely, one individual might be in 5–6 boxes. In addition our 1,000 boxes include
several hundred unidentified Asians. We also have boxes of remains turned over by governments (such as the 208 boxes turned
over by the N Koreans, which probably represent the commingled remains of 400-plus Americans), or private citizens that have
defied identification attempts. Many of these will never be identified, but some will—each year we identify 1–2 of these 20-year-old
cases. That’s what makes coming up with a number so vexing.
The boxes do not represent a backlog, Holland says.
Every box has been analyzed and everyone that we can identify has been identified. The reasons the boxes are still on the
shelves are varied: we haven’t completed the excavation, we’re awaiting DNA results, we’re awaiting a family reference sample,
we’ve already identified the man [and] are waiting on the family to decide disposition, or we’re simply stymied and are awaiting
new information or a breakthrough in technology. Bottom line, we analyze every case as soon as it comes through the door.
E-mail to author from Tom Holland, July 3, 2008.
96
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008.
14: WAR COMES TO ARLINGTON
1
. Darrell Stafford, interviewed by author, April 1, 2009.
2
. Ibid.
3
. Ibid.; Steve Vogel,
The Pentagon: A History
(New York: Random House, 2007) 449.
4
. Scott Wilson and Al Kamen, “Global War on Terror Is Given New Name,” Washington
Post,
March 25, 2009.
5
. Stafford interview; “Presidential Address to the Nation, Oct. 7, 2001,”
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011007-8.html;
Guy Raz, “Defining the War on Terror,”
All Things Considered,
National Public Radio, Nov. 1, 2006; John Judis,“What is the War on Terror?” New Republic Online, June 5, 2006; William Safire,
“On Language: Asymmetry,” The
New York Times
, Oct. 21, 2001.
6
. Stafford interview.
7
. Ibid.
8
. Ibid.
9
. Jim Garamone, “Remains of Pentagon Attack Victims Buried at Arlington,”
American Forces Press Service
, Sept. 12, 2002; Connie Cass,
Associated Press
, “Ceremony Honors Pentagon Victims,” Sept. 13, 2002.
10
. Ibid.
11
. Stafford interview.
12
. “Kip Paul Taylor,”
http://arlingtoncemetry.net/kiptaylor.html.
13
. Joseph L. Galloway, “Family Tragedy Ends in Arlington Cemetery,” undated article, Knight Ridder Newspapers.
14
. Garamone,“Remains”; Cass, “Ceremony.”
15
. Fifteen servicemen and one servicewoman killed in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, more popularly called the
Persian Gulf War of 1990–91, are buried at Arlington. Another nine, whose remains could not be identified but who are known
to have died, are honored with headstones in the cemetery’s memorial section. Of all the conflicts in which the United States
has been involved since World War II, the 1990–91 Gulf War was one of the most conventional, with a clear, narrowly defined
objective, an overwhelming deployment of forces, and a relatively low number of fatalities. Out of some 340,000 Americans
sent to fight, 293 were killed, 148 of those in battle.
16
. Rick Hampson, “Fallout from 1983 Barracks Bombing Is Still Being Felt,” USA Today, Oct. 22, 2008.
17
. “Terrorist Bombing of the Marine Barracks, Beirut Lebanon,” Oct. 23, 2008,
http://arlingtoncemetery.net/html.
18
. Hampson, “Fallout.”
19
. Richard A. Serrano, “Detainees Describe CIA Agent Slaying,” Dec. 8, 2004, and “Driven by a Son’s Sacrifice,” April 7,
2005, The
Los Angeles Times
; James Risen of The
New York Times
, interviewed on
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,
PBS, Nov. 29, 2001.
20
. Ibid. Moments before he died, Spann had been interrogating John Walker Lindh, a Californian arrested with Taliban fighters
and taken into federal custody. Lindh avoided trial by pleading guilty to aiding the Taliban and carrying explosives, for
which a U.S. District judge sentenced him to twenty years in prison. Lindh told the judge that he had no role in Spann’s death,
although members of Spann’s family believed that the Californian had been complicit. Richard A. Serrano, “Detainees.”
21
. “CIA Honors Slain Officers at Annual Ceremony,” May 31, 2002, CIA press release.
22
. Serrano, “Detainees”; Serrano “Driven”; The
New York Post,
Nov. 29, 2001;
The New York Daily News,
Nov. 29, 2001.
23
. Ibid.
24
. “DCI Remarks at the Funeral of Johnny Micheal Spann,” Dec. 10, 2001, CIA Speeches and Testimony,
http://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2001/dci-speech-12102001.html.
25
. The Marine body bearers of Bravo Company, attached to the Marine Barracks at Eighth and I Streets in Washington, D.C., spend hours pumping iron to stay in condition for their work. Their unofficial motto: “World Famous Body Bearers,
the Last to Let You Down.”
27
. Karen Meredith, “Gold Star Mom Speaks Out: Section 60, the Saddest Acre in America,” Oct. 11, 2008,
http://gsmo.blogspot.com/2008/10/section-60-saddest-acre-in-america.html.
28
. Tom Sherlock, interviewed by author, May 17, 2005.
29
. Michael A. Cottman, “Pride, Sorrow Mingle in Maryland Couple’s Loss,” The
Washington Post,
April 8, 2003; Annie Gowen, “Fallen Soldier Honored in Arlington: He’s the First Combat Death in the War to Be Buried at
National Cemetery,” The
Washington Post,
April 10, 2003; Eileen Putman,“Nation Buries War Dead at Arlington,” Associated Press, April 11, 2003; Clay Latimer, “A Heart
Laid Bare,” The
Rocky Mountain News,
April 3, 2004.
30
. Ibid.
31
. Robert Allen Durbin, “Die in combat—receive full honors,” The
Winchester Journal Gazette,
March 31, 2008; Sfc. Robert A. Durbin, e-mails to author, Sept. 17, Dec. 12, Dec. 22, 2008, Jan. 17, 2008; John C. Metzler
Jr. to Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Nov. 28, 2007; Sen. Richard G. Lugar to Pete Geren, April 4, 2008; Pete Geren to Sen. Richard
G. Lugar, April 30, 2008.
32
. Durbin to author, Sept. 17, 2008.
33
. Ibid.
34
. Staff Sgt. Jerald Allen Whisenhunt e-mail to Betsy Whisenhunt, Feb. 5, 2008.
35
. Durbin to author, Sept. 17, 2008.
36
. William H. McMichael, “Should Arlington honors go beyond rank?”
Military Times
, April 2, 2008.
37
. Ibid.
38
. Durbin, “Die in Combat.”
39
. Pete Geren, memorandum for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs,“Funeral Honors at Arlington
National Cemetery (ANC) for Enlisted Soldiers Killed in Action,” Dec. 12, 2008, Department of Defense; William H. McMichael,
“All enlisted KIAs to get full Arlington honors,”
Military Times,
Dec. 15, 2008; Jeff Schogol, “Army extends honors to enlisted soldiers,”
Stars and Stripes,
Dec. 17, 2008.
40
. Mark Berman, “Full Military Honors Honor a Soldier’s Full Sacrifice: First Enlisted Soldier Buried Under New Arlington
Policy,” The
Washington Post
, Jan. 24, 2009.
41
. Confidential communication, Durbin e-mail to an officer, Dec. 12, 2008.
42
. “Joseph M. Hernandez, Specialist, United States Army,” U.S. Department of Defense Immediate Release No. 022-08, Jan. 12,
2009; Vanessa Renderman, “Hammond soldier killed in Afghanistan,” The
Northwest Times,
Jan. 13, 2009.
43
. Lolly Bowean, “Indiana soldier, father of 2, killed in Afghanistan,” The
Chicago Tribune
, Jan. 16, 2009; Lu Ann Franklin, “Hammond soldier returns home,” The
Hammond Times
, Jan. 16, 2008.
44
. Berman, “Full Military Honors”; Mary Louise Kelly, “Enlisted Man Gets Burial Once Reserved for Officers,”
All Things Considered:
National Public Radio, April 21, 2009.
15: TAPS
1
. Daytime duty, which is limited to half-hour patrols, is even more rigorous for tomb sentinels because they must pay strict
attention to the appearance of their dress uniforms and to the presence of millions of Arlington’s visitors, for whom the
Tomb of the Unknowns is a popular attraction.
2
. Spec. Bruce Bryant, Staff Sgt. Stephen Kuehn, Pfc. Adam Boutross, Sgt. Christopher Moore, Pfc. Kyle Obrosky, sentinels
interviewed by author, Dec. 4, 2006; Staff Sgt. Justin E. Bickett, interviewed by author, Nov. 28, 2006. Despite the Tomb
Guard’s stern appearance, no sentinel has carried live ammunition since 1948, when a jumpy guard heard a noise in the night
and fired two warning shots into the air. One of the shots whizzed over the cemetery and pierced the leg of a woman in an
apartment building at Arlington Farm, some 500 yards away. Beulah Irene Coslett survived the incident but lost the use of
her left foot. She sued the government, won a $50,000 settlement, and changed the policy for arming Tomb sentinels. “Shot
By Shrine’s Guard: Woman Is Hit By Stray Bullet,” The
Washington Post
, Nov. 28, 1948.
3
. Spec. Bruce Bryant, interviewed by author, Dec. 4, 2006; Bryant has since been promoted to sergeant.
4
. Ibid.
5
. Lisa Hoffman, “Guard Feels Bond With Vietnam War Soldier,” July 7, 1998, The
St. Louis Dispatch.
Although upset by Blassie’s departure from Arlington, the guard was happy that the airman’s remains had been returned to
his family.
6
. Bryant and others, interviewed by author, Dec. 4, 2006; Staff Sgt. Adam Dickmyer, interviewed by author, Nov. 20, 2006.
7
. The first woman sentinel was awarded the Tomb Guard badge in 1996. Three others have since received the badge, which is
the Army’s rarest award. Fewer than 600 have been given since 1957.
8
. Bryant and others, Dec. 4, 2006.
9
. Dickmyer, Nov. 20, 2006.
10
. Thomas D. Holland, scientific director, memorandum to commander, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, “Identification of
CIL 2004-101-1-01,” Oct. 17, 2005; Paul Duggan, “WWI Soldier Comes Home at Long Last,” The
Washington Post,
Sept. 25, 2006; Andrew E. Woods, “World War I Soldier Repatriated After 88 Years,” 18th Infantry Annual Meeting, Aug. 9,
2007, St. Louis, MO.
11
. Ibid.
12
. Ibid.
13
. Duggan,“WWI Soldier.”
14
. Author’s notes and interviews, Sept. 26, 2006.
15
. Ibid.
16
. Duggan, “Long-Lost Soldier Remembered,” The
Washington Post
, Sept. 27, 2006; Spec. Stephen Baack,“1st Division Soldier Identified, Laid to Rest,” Oct. 26, 2006, army.mil/news; Steven
Donald Smith, “Longtime-Missing WWI Soldier Buried at Arlington National Cemetery, American Forces Press Service, Sept. 26,
2006.
17
. Rudi Williams,“Arlington National Cemetery Gains 70 Acres of Land,” American Forces Press Service, May 27, 2005.
18
. Kaitlin Horst, Arlington National Cemetery, e-mail to author, April 28, 2009.
19
. John C. Metzler Jr., interviewed by author, Oct. 15, 2008. Most of Arlington’s new space will come from the Navy Annex,
a World War II–era building sitting on 44 acres and slated for demolition in 2010. Another 17 acres will be absorbed from
adjoining Fort. Myer. Twelve more will be taken from a wooded area near the Lee mansion, much to the dismay of the National
Park Service, which had previously controlled the parcel and considered it an important buffer of historical importance. Because
one acre of land typically provides space for 600 to 800 graves, the additional 70 acres could hold as many as 56,000 graves;
in addition, Arlington is developing another 40 acres of land it already controls within the cemetery, which could provide
space for 36,000 new graves and inurnment sites. Thus Arlington’s total capacity could approach 400,000 graves by 2060.
Robert M. Poole
is an editor and writer whose assignments for
National Geographic
and
Smithsonian
have taken him around the world. He is the author of
Explorers House:
National Geographic
and the World it Made,
and a contributing editor at
Smithsonian
.
He lives in Virginia.