A Walk Through Arlington National Cemetery

This past Saturday, November 11th, was a beautiful autumn day to walk through Arlington National Cemetery. The eleventh day of the eleventh month is a reminder of Armistice Day (November 11, 1918), when World War I ended at the eleventh hour.

Color photograph of Arlington National Cemetery. The greenery stretches in the foreground to the middle. where rows of white stone grave markers lay. Fall foliage frames the Washington Monument on the distant horizon, under a blue sky and wispy clouds. — The view of Arlington National Cemetery from the John F. Kennedy burial site, facing north. Photo by Bailey DeSimone.

On June 4, 1926, Congress called for an observance of Armistice Day (44 Stat. 1982), and a legal holiday of the same name became law on May 13, 1938 (52 Stat. 351). Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, the holiday became known as Veterans Day on June 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 168).

Eisenhower was a former military general during World War II who led the D-Day offensive on June 6th, 1944. On October 8, 1954, he issued a proclamation calling for the recognition of the first official Veterans Day.

Black and white photograph depicting General Dwight D. Eisenhower, center facing to the right, gesturing with one hand as he speaks to a semicircle of gathered soldiers in full battle dress. All are standing and silent around the general. — General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the day, “Full victory–nothing else” to paratroopers somewhere in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe. England, 1944. [June 6 i.e. 5] Photograph. Retrieved from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Personal narratives from veterans who experienced D-Day are available through the Veterans History Project. Declassified maps and other analyses of the terrain are available through the Geography and Map Division.

Though Eisenhower is not among them, many prominent military figures were laid to rest in Arlington. On December 14, 1944, the grades of General of the Army and Fleet Admiral (for the Navy) were established by an act of Congress (78 Stat. 802). According to the legislation “[t]he number of officers holding the grade of General of the Army on active duty shall not exceed four,” as they would rank above all other army officers. Known as “Five Star Officers,” Eisenhower, as a General of the Army, became one of the first of nine. Five of these officers are buried in Arlington.

Generals George C. Marshall, Henry H. Arnold, and Omar N. Bradley are the three Five Star Generals of the Army buried in Arlington.

Color photograph of George C. Marshall's gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery. Etched above his name are five stars in a circle. — General George C. Marshall’s gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by Bailey DeSimone.

In Eisenhower’s Order of the Day, delivered in England on the eve of D-Day, he proclaimed, “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you…[t]he free men of the world are marching together to Victory!”

On a calm, autumn day in Arlington, reflection on liberty and justice for all is time well spent.

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