Transcripts For CSPAN3 Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier 20151126

The tomb guard badge, which is depicted on our logo and in this case here, this is the second least awarded badge in the United States military with the exception of the astronaut a astronaut badge. Today, we are giving badge number 634 to a young man and now in the brotherhood of fellowship of tomb guards. We have a society, we are 501c3 organization and part of the bylaws is is we do Community Outreach to educate the public about the tomb. I find that your generation, this, sort of a sweeping generation here, that your generation knows about the tomb. I talk to School Groups, and its appalling to me how little they know. Its not their fault. We have allowed all this teaching and teaching to the test and we have not put history on the test. And i will get off my soap box. Just think of that. I do speak to a lot of School Groups probono, this is my 81st speech this year. In 2015. I will have well over 100 by the time veterans day is over. Im speaking pretty much nonstop from the first to the 14th of november. To a lot of groups. Multiple, three in a day, four in a day. So, im sort of a bit of a work horse around veterans day and around memorial day, i have been invited to the National World War Ii Museum for memorial day of 2016. I will speak at that event specifically about the selection of the world war ii unknowns and how that was so complicated compared to the other selections that was done. As a 20yearold soldier of the United States army, i was given a huge gift, an enormenormou ani was selected to be one of these guys. And that is me. This was taken on the fourth month anniversary of my first ever walk on the mat, and we refer to the mat as this piece of rubberized material, that is 63 feet long. It serves several purposes. One is to insulate from the granite, and it is to give traction. And the main reason its there is to prevent the shoes from wearing a groove in the granite. Because the granite is constantconstant ly walked on. Same path, same number of steps, scantly since midnight, july 2nd, 1937. When it was discovered that people were coming in at night to chip pieces a off to take home as souvenirs. We will talk about it in a bit. Now, this, this piece of marble is from colorado, and its several pieces of marble. The cap stone is 12 tons. Quart quarried in 1931 out of colorado and brought to this place and finished in place, this carving was done after it was set in place. Here rests in honor glory, an american soldier known but to god. That phrase of was verbatim from soldiers graves in france and belgium that said, here rests an american soldier known but to go god. This dye block is 36 tons. It is cracking. You can see the crack. I will show you more about the replacement project that was on schedule and then stopped by legislation in 2009. The base is 15 tons and there are four pieces in the sub base. Four tons a piece, for a total of 79 tons. Now, the fourth month anniversary was the first day that i got to wear this badge on my right breast pocket. And it is the tomb guard identification badge, mine is number 78 and we are giving today in arlington, we are giving away number 634 for that person the o keep, this badge h one stipulation, and that is, it can be revoked for as long as i live. We have revoked at least 21 of them. For conduct unbecoming a tomb guard for those who have committed felonies, and other such transgressions that have brought shame upon the tomb, the unknown soldier and the u. S. Army. We have a motto in our society like the boy scout motto is be prepared. Ours is soldiers never die until they are forgotten and tomb guards never forget. And we have a creed, and it goes like this, my dedication to this sacred duty is total and whole hearted and the responsibility bestowed on me, never will i falter and with dignity and my standard will remain perfection, through the years of diligence and praise, i will walk my tour to the best of my ability. It is he who commands my respect i protect. And surrounded by wellmeaning crowds by day, alone in the thoughtful peace of night. We take that to heart as guards and we take it to heart later in our lives as well. A bit of history, i get a feeling that we have history buffs in this room. Hands, please. We will start with 1669. A ships captain, robert housing, was given 6,000 acres of land across what is now washington, d. C. , can you imagine, any real estate people in here . Can you tell in he what you telt an acre of land is worth there . A bunch. Multiply it by 6,000, current value of the property, no improvements on it of course, just the raw property. He sold it for six barrels of tobacco. Now, moving forward, the property ends up in the alexander family, john and philiply fil Philip Alexander establish the area and its a big of slave trading hub in Northern Virginia and this is crucial later on. In 1778, a guy with a famous mother buys 1100 of the 6,000 acres and his name is john park custus, im related to him. My first forebearer settled in connecticut, and he arrived in 1630. My mother was a dar, i have relatives on both sides would fought in the american revolution. So, he his mother is martha dandrige custus washington, she is not washington yet, of course. In 1759, his mother remarys George Washington and his name was john, they call him jackie. Jackie and patsy were raised at mt. Vernon. Now, so, 1778, he buys this property. He is an aide to his adoptive father at the siege of yorktown, the siege is over, cornwalis is taken over, they are encamped there and he got sick and die fr from camp fever. That could have been anything, yellow fever, malaria possible. And he died and passed the property to his six month old son. Named in honor of his adoptive grand foefr grandfather. He builds it over 30 years. You did not go to the bank and get a mortgage. You bought materials and built it as it went along. It took him 16 years to complete. I want to do point out this grave, this is the grave of ho are horatio wright, i talk about who is buried in arlington. Horatio wright got as close to the front door of the mansion as anybody and there was a contest to get as close to the front of the house as possible and i will explain why it was crucial to do that. That is a big place, thats a park ranger standing there. House is 142 feet from end to end. Now, he has four children. Only one of them lives to be an adult. Only one of them lives pass being infancy. And in 1831, june 30th, she ma s marries her third cousin. Robert e lee. Now, lee never owns the property. It is always in the custus family name. And in 1863, she will be charged a tax, awill not pay it in person, and she is charged to do. I will talk about it in a minute. He lives here and considers it home. He is superintendent of west point, 1853 and 1854. He is on the Mississippi River surveying for 40s near where i grew up in iowa, and he comes back and considering it his home. He never owns the property. His father, light horse harry wl lee. A financial deadbeat, abandons this family, his family, when hee lee is young, very young, 5 years old. He goes off to the to the islands, and the atlantic, what aim thinking about, caribbean. And on his way back, he dies, lee spoke of him once on record. And it was a fleeting mention. His name will come up in a bit. So, in 1861, we know what happens. Fort sumter is fired on and lee is summoned to the District Of Columbia and meets with and offered union troops. He refuses and several kdays later goes to richmond. Tells his wife to come as soon as possible, and it took her a couple of weeks. You know how the ladies are, you have to get the china packed and this packed. Is that a sexist comment. Okay, she took her time. She on comes and yeah. Thats right. And a few weeks later, federal troops come across after the voters of virginia have voted to succeed. He fights the first major land battle of the war. He loses because a guy shows up in the afternoon named jackson. Doesnt have a nickname, but he gets it at that battle, that day. And they say, there stands jackson like a stonewall. Is that a good thing or bad thing . We dont know, he is shot and died the following morning without the opportunity to explain the comment. But jackson likes it and keeps it. Federal troops occupy the land they never try to retake this place and remembering, that this had is a slave holding, this was a slave holding plantation, within sight of the Nations Capital until the federal troops came across in 1861, they come across and in 1863, the law is passed, and mrs. Lee is ordered to show up in person to pay 92. 07 in tax on this property. Now, had she is not stupid. She has a good chance of being taken prisoner if she shows up in person, so she sends a male relative, and its refused. So the property is legally seized. And in a wellattended auction and the one bidder is the government, and they get it for below fair market value. Now, this guy is the most Important Union general nobody ever heard of. His had name is montgomery cunningham meggs, he was born in augusta augusta, georgia and educated in the north at west point and he considered anybody who was educated in west point, and fought for the confeddracy, a traitor and should be hung. He did not get his way. Lee was free to go. And went to washington university, or Washington College and became washington and lee later in virginia. But he was Quarter Master general, when the war broke out, it was joseph ejohnston, and if you know your history, he was an effective general for if United States. He and William Sherman became Close Friends after the war. Johnston was of a pall bearer and refused to keep his hat on. Ands this is a story. So, montgomery cunningham meggs, from mid may 1861 to the end of the war, he was credited with accounting for every cent that the union army spent. 1. 5 billion, praapproximately. Okay, every cent was accounted for by this gentleman. He was the one who recommended in 1864 that we start using the the union start using the plantation as a burial ground, it was a way to shame lee, and testi it was to make this place that he considered home, a graveyard. The next day, a private blatt is buried, he is the first combat fatality, and then another dies in the hospital and comes over and buried in arlington. This is in section 27. In section 27, its one of my favorites. Ity it is where a lot of the unknowns and color troops, escaped slaves and citizens, free blacks, many were buried there, and section 27 is a stones throw from the iwagima memorial is. You go across the wall and you are in section 27. And its fascinating to walk around and read the stones and the dates of death and etcetera. Now, arlington looked like this in 1865. Over grown with weeds. These are not stones, they are wooden planks that are painted white and painted with black paint. Up keep could be horrible. So, in 1873, the congress authorized the use of marble head stones. These are buried mostly in a segregated section. Though most are integrated with whit white enlisted men. This is a mass grave. They sealed the deal, to make sure that the lees would not come back. They put the bones of 2011 of soldiers, their names and deaths are recorded in the archives of their country and they are honored. May they rest in peace, september, 1866. Is jessica in the room . Okay. Thats okay. There you are. Would you come and touch my hand, please. This is i thought you were going to be right over here. You are going to i will meet you in the middle. Okay. There you go. Okay. A thats it. Thank you. Okay. Now, jessica just touched my hand. Im a live, arent i, jessica . Yes. Sometimes my kids wonder. You just touched my hand, this handheld the hand of a man who was born that year and i called him grand pa. Now i do it with school kids and they cant believe that im standing here talking to them. That i am only three generations from this date in my family. For me talking to you, to this man that i whose hand i touched who was born that year. The civil war is not ancient history as some like to believe it is. To them, to school kids, vietnam is ancient history. World war ii, they dont know when it was fought. And i take, i take personal pride in taking that message and informing them about the sacrifice that has been made on their behalf that they should know about it. And they need to know about it. So, this mass grave, now he did not just lay bodies in there. He stacked all the skulls together. And he nested the pelvis together so is they would feet and he stacked the femurs and ribs together. A bit worried, okay. But this was to make sure that the lees would not want to occupy this quote haunted place by all the spirits of 2111, were they all Union Soldiers . Probably not. They were skeletal remains, who knows, dug up for years after the fact. Now world war i comes along, we are in 1914, the centennial observance of that. Im not going to say celebration, observance of the horrible slaughter. The u. S. Lost 162,000, 63,000 other deaths many of those deaths the spanish flu of 1918, it was called the spanish flu, they were the noncombatant countries saying how can wemany dying, and the other countries who were in combat would not, because it would tell weakness. So the spanish flu was called that because they were numbering the losses britts lost some that were never had found. And the french lost 1. 4 million. 2,000 additional civilian deaths. The germans, 2. 2 million. Nobody knows how many the russians lost, at least 2 million, they were not good record keepers. In 1915, following the second battle of ypris, there were five battles, it never fell. The town was reduced to rubble, but it never fell. A doctor after 17 days of nonstop battle, he was both a doctor and soldier. He was helping h ining when he mend boys and save their lives and after 17 days he sat on the end of an ambulance wagon and wrote the following poem. In flanders field the poppies blow. Scarce heard aa midst the guns. [ inaudible ] now we lie in flanders fields, take up our quarrel with the foe. Be yours to hold it high, if ye break faith we shall not die. And the story is he threw the poem in the trash and a friend of his rescued it and sent it to london, and a few months later in the fall of 1915, punch published it and it went viral, if anything could go viral in that year. It did. The blood red poppy with the red center was adopted. I love that blood red poppy that they wear for remembrance day, the veterans of foreign wars created the buddy poppy and it was sold when i was a kid on street corners he everywhere. In iowa where i grew up, we walked down the street and around november 11th, you would see that every corner, the widows and orphans of the great war were to benefit. Now, you dont see that so much anymore. The britts and the french entomb unknowns. Its known as the tomb of the unknown warrior. And the french added an eternal flame to their tomb. No, that was Jackie Kennedy as inflati kennedys inspiration. In 1921, the military hierarchy thought we were going to identify everybody and it was inappropriate to have all to represent those all unidentified. We had many, many names of missing and no way to connect these with these. So, they said, okay, lets do this. So they went to four american cemeteries in france, and exhumed four unknowns, they brought them to a Central Place and put them in identical caskets. This is where the selection took place. They brought them in, and took great care, destroyed all the records pertaining to those grave sites and examined the body to make sure there was nothing on them that could identify them to unit, rank or anything. And over the night, the crew came in and moved them all around so nobody could think that that morning that that one was the sitting there yesterday, that was from this cemetery and maybe there was to way that anybody could possibly know which was which. It was like the old shell game. So, the next morning the private, sgt. Edward f younger was given a spray of white roses by a townsman. Who had lost two sons in the war and he laid the roses on one of the four caskets and that was our unknown soldier and here he is coming out of the town. They are taking him to the train. Those are the roses, those roses will stay on the casket across the ocean and in to the cript in Arlington National cemetery. That is john jpersing. And then to the ship. The ruben james was torpedoed before pearl harbor. So, here he goes. Capital rotunda, coming out. You can tell when direction its moving because the stripes point the way. He is coming down the steps. Here is persing, he is walking up and up pennsylvania avenue, up m street and across the river on the aqueduct bridge, there was no Memorial Bridge yet. It was not built until the 1930s. So, this is warren g harding. One of the best ever president s. Just kidding. Presiding over the unknown soldier and this is persing, dropping a fist full of soil on the top of the casket. The crypt has two layers of ground that he died defending. This is what the tomb looked like. This is from the old quarry, the original, the first tomb. So, had this woman in mourning clothes, is a widow of one of the 3,173 mias. And theres a possibility, slim, that that is indeed her loved one in that crypt. That is why the selection was done with such great care to make sure that nobody could know who was in that grave. So, in 1925, a veteran of the great war comes around the corner and finds a family having a picnic lunch on top of the tomb of the unknown soldier. He goes to the white house. He walks through the gate. He does not have to jump the fence. He walks through the gate. And walks up to the door and rings the door bell and somebody answers. This is getting funnier, and he gets in, and he said, what do you want . And i said, i want to see the president , and what been . Peek a people are having a picnic on the tomb of the unknown soldier and we have to do something about it. He meets thepresident , and they start guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. I was a tomb guard and they say, you were in the marine corp, and i say, well, i have are the utmost respect, of the marine corp, they go where others fear to tread, but the army is thor is service, a bit older than the marine corp and arlington is administered by the department of the army. Most other cemeteries are administered by the department of veterans affairs, arlington and the old soldiers and sailors home is department of the army. Now, just going to leap ahead quickly. They have just knocked down the navy annex, its the next expansion, it will a allow burials until 2062. The demand out of the kennedy funeral lept off the charts. I do not qualify for burial at arlington. I do not have a purple heart a silver star, i did not have a disability over a certain percent. Not everyone can be buried there. All retirees are qualified. This is the crack, the same one, right at that corner, was where my hand was, it going all the way through the block. They tested it and they think it goes all the way through. The earthquake, i said, did it say on and they knew what i was talking about. The secondary crack goes through here. These are the three figures of peace with the dove, valor, and victory, and six wreaths representing the battles that were fought in the great war. These are wreaths of mourning, a wreath of mourning is inverted and a wreath of victory is like this, like the olympians wear their wreath, it up. Its up side down, sadness and mourning is an inverted wreath. In 1937, it was discovered that people were coming up at night with hammers and chisels to take pieces for souvenirs. A 24 hour guard was posted and it has been guarded nontop since. 78 plus years. I was privileged to have 151 2 months of that continuum, of guarding these soldiers that lost their lives and identities as well. Of protecting them and keeping them from harm of people who would disrespect the tomb or people who would vandalize the tomb. Okay. Those are the main things that we have prevent. Now, in 1978, after the Second World War it was decided that they would do a world war ii unknown, and they picked the day, and something happened on june 25th, 1950, japan came across the parallel and all bets were off. Everything was on hold. In 1958, it was decided lets o entomb both, a korean unknown, and there were over 78,000 missing americans in the Second World War. I tell kids that. They go, what . Nobody told me that before. 78,000 americans went to that war and did not return. 19411945. So, this is the korean unknown, already was selected. That was a straight forward selection. They were all in the cemetery of the pacific, so they chose four, put them in identical caskets and destroyed the records like they did for the world war i unknown, put a wreath on one of the four in hawaii and that is him, he is there. Now, world war ii was more complex, because we had from one area to another. We had all over southern france, northern france, belgium, we had huge areas to burials, they chose 13 and brought them to france. One was selected. They did the same, they brought four from the Mckinley Cemetery from the philippines and one from hawaii and chose one. I can cou one was a transpacific and one was transatlantic. This one will be wrapped in clothe and weighted and buried at sea. This one will come to the capital rotunda 1958, this selection was done on may the 26th. The ship, the blandy, they were transferred to the ship, they walk these guys to the Capitol Rotunda and they askand hathey the full 48 hours. They switch them in the middle of the night so each lay on the lincoln ca tmp ampcatafolt for hours. I ask eighth graders who was that, and they say, it was joe biden. Oh, no. Not quite. Thats general eisenhower, we called him general eisenhower in the army. Not president eisenhower. Bestowing medals of honor on the two unknowns and this is the korean army unknown, this is president nixon, and ike next of kin to the world war ii unknown. The pentagon is right there and thats the face that got hit by flight 77 in 9 11. So, these guys are going to be buried here, and everyone look at all the piles and piles of flowers. Now, fast forward. 1984. This is a kind of a sad and interesting story. May 11, 1972. Well, im going to back up. These, this is president reagan presiding over what was said to be unknown remains from the vietnam conflict. May 11th, 1972, first lieutenant, glieutenant graduate of the air force academy. He was flying over vietnam, his wing man said he saw tracers come up and saw the plane go over, did not get a distress call, so he thought the rounds hit him and put him out of commission because he did not make a distress call. The plane went in, fire ball, no parachu parachute, and behind enemy lines, a crew gets there and they find four ribs, part of a pelvis, and part of the arm, and they find other artifacts, blanket and a holster for his flare gun and his wallet with a picture i. D. And theres money in it and they put it in a helicopter with a crew, and the wallet disappears on the way to saigon. They stole it for the money. Didnt care about the i. D. So there went the positive i. D. With that a i. D. Card, so they put those remains on a shelf and labeled them, believed to be michael blassy and it sat there for nine years and they never notified the family. You never tell the family unless you know. So a ringer pathologist, his job was to deal with the remains in question. They were redesignated. And the family learned after 1984 that the department of defense continued to refer to those remains as believed to be Michael Joseph blassi, that was their smoking gun. And they had an order to disentur and they brought him out tested him, the dna testing was not what it is now. Back then, you needed a fair amount of material that they didnt have. So, they did it and yes, indeed, it was Michael Joseph blassi, i spoke at the library in colorado springss, the main library, and after i was done, a lady came up and said, my sister dated him when he was a cadet at the air force academy. And you could bet money when he came to sunday dinner, in the mail, monday or tuesday would be a thank you note from michael. That kind of kid. This is, section 60, its called the saddest acre in america. By some folks, because it is where,ity where the recent kias are buried from afghanistan and iraq. This picture has 1500 graves. Theres 400,000 buried. Do the math. So, you make a row of 26 long and ten deep and that is how many graves there are. Showed this to my daughter, she said, you were not that young. You were never that young. It my basic combat training year book photo. I was 20 years old, like anybody who had college, i sent to infantry school. To make the light go on so i would maybe volunteer for ocs, there was a great need in vietnam. So i went to infantry school. The second week i was there, there was a meeting for those that want to volunteer for the ceremonial duties. I went to the meeting with 40 or 50 other guys and filled out the card and said i had gone to the boy scout jamborie, and took a side trip to the washington and d. C. Area and went to arlington and if i would have a chance to be a tomb guard guy, i would jump at it. Order came down, seven kweweeks later. On one of the 40 or 50 went to ft. Meyer, virginia, there were only 15 tomb guards. I volunteered for honor guard company, which was all 6 feet or taller. Did all the first line stuff. I went to the u. S. Army drill team and i went to the drill team and found there was an opening at the tomb for a guy just my size. 623 4. If i was a half inch shorter, i was not a candidate. I was just the right size. We had two he relieve we had reliefs, i did not know i could do this job or not. I had no idea i could freeze my face for an hour. I had no idea i could blink, you know, go so long without blif g blinking. I didnt know that i could walk through ridiculously had heavy rain and not mind. But i did. And i pulled it off. I was congratulagratified and h gratified to do the job on a personal level as well as a larger level. The larger picture of what this means and why, and why we have this place in the first place. So, i got to be one of these guys and i became commander of the relief on halloween on 1969 and my last duty day was 1970. Got off at 7 00 in the morning. This is the National Memorial ampitheater, we will go to the top and look straight down, this is where the tomb guard walks. Its 63 feet long and over here is the wellworn path. Its a box, it a canvas box, with a metal frame and it has spikes. Five of them, four at the corners and one on the top, and those are not decorative, the only time that we can leave the mat for weather related was if we felt threatened by lightning. We could go in here and the lightning would go around us and not through us and kill us. I never did. If you got to the point, with what little hair you had was standing on end, you could go in there. This is well worn, this is where they walk a during wreath layings, you cannot walk back and forth, theres stuff going on. They post you in the box. I was talking to sixth graders and i said, this box is a little bit bigger than a phone booth and mr. Tudor, what is a phone booth . Got to remember who you are talking to. So, 21 steps. Halt, face, stand 21 seconds. 21. Indicating full military honors of the 21 gun salute, reflecting full military honorers constantly to the three individuals in the grave, world war ii, korean and world war i unknown. There wont be anymore unknowns, if we have a part of somebody, we will know who they are, there will be missing, but there wontiwont i be unknowns, guards walk in a way that your head does not bob up and down or go side to side. 45 years ago. So, 21 steps halt, stand face 21 seconds. Uniforms are perfection. Everything is located within a milimeter, everything is shined beyond belief. Creases are knife edge. Okay. Shoes are of course, polished, now, one of of the things that i talked to some had cade cadets r force academy and i had a trick question for them. And i had, what do you shine first of the shoes . And they said i dont know, shine the edges . And i said, take them off. You delace them and shine over the holes so you can relace them. And you shine the tongue. You spit shine the tongue. Who is going to see that tongue . Who is going to know its shined . You are. And you alone. Thats a concept there. Thats a lot of the concept of what we do here at the tomb. Its to be as perfect as possible, because to do less, less than your very, very possible best is to dishonor these individuals who are in these graves. Now, in my day, these chains went around the end of this mat and right around here, nobody can come up the stairs anymore and you cannot get within 30 feet of the centisentinal when walking the mat. People would come up and talk to you, and as long as they were thought loud, i didnt care. If they got loud, then that was another story. We would say, it is requested that you observe a mature and reverent attitude. If somebody came across the chains, same thing,ity requested that visitors are remain on the outside of the chains. If they dont move,ity requested that visitors remain on the outside of the chains and if they dont move. The bayonnete and rifle, no ammo in the weapon. They used to carry a live round chambered until 1953, when a soldier from the great war, not the great war, the korean war took his own life in our bunk room. I carried a full flip. 45, now in 2000, they said that the secret service would not allow the relief commander to carry a live round. Now, what happened last year after ottawa, when a jihadi, kill today candien guarding their tomb, im thinkin ining t they rethought that and when you go up and look around, that maybe a couple of people in the crowd are like air marshals, they are there to make sure that if somebody tries to pull something, it gets stopped real quick. So, now, when the guard change, when i became relief commander, i would come out to the middle and then, ladies and gentlemen, im Sergeant Tudor it is requested that visitors remain silent and standing at the changing of the guard. Thank you. And thats how we would begin the guard change. And then of course, everything after that, is so rehearsed. Its all we did was practice, practice, practice, practice. Now on, things could challenge you. Nobody was people come up and tell you stupid jokes or funny jokes. They were not going to be funny. You knew what they were up to. It was like, you know, if they got loud, then you challenged them. What would challenge you was the unexpected. Now, it was at this end of the mat one day and i heard buzzing. And the largest bumbel bee that i ever saw, landed on the tip of my nose and i could feel the legs in my nostrils, i did not look at him or blink. I let him sit there for ten is seconds and he flew off. I am allergic to bee stings. The crowd awas close and there was a gasp from the crowd. Same end of the mat, a few weeks later, a lady came up and stood here outside the chains and she was straight in front of me and lifted her instamatic camera and clicked and put it down and walked away. I was the only one there that could not laugh and i was the only one there that she had just taken a close up photo of her very own eyeball. She had that sucker bassackwards as we used to say. That was a challenge on my part for composer to maintain. I did. The last one i will tell you, on this end of the mat, i see a baby squirrel coming at me, he jumps up on the toe of my right shoe, im thinking, i will have to reshine those, and he proceeds to climb my leg on the inside of the pants and he gets up here and decides thats a cool place to be and he exits and im relieved when he goes. Now, we walked in all weather. Didnt matter. Walked in ridiculously hard rain, sleet was the worst. Sleet stung. Snow was nice. I like snow. Snow was cool. I call this, theres where the lightning would had hve hit. I call this this, smart army, dumb army, wuss army, we were bareeared all winter in 1969 and 70, i will bet and i dont know if full back story that somebody got frostbitten and the army said, okay, we are done, we will put flaps on everyone from here on out. This is the whole crew. This is sgt. Joe ds. All of these gentlemen except this guy and this guy and this guy are draftees. Most of them, with College Degrees in 1969 and 70, because they had high test scores, they were recruited like i was. When i got to ft. Meyer, the captain called me, and called me in and said, private tudor, reporting, have a seat. How would you leike to go to wet point . And i said, why do you say that . And he said you have high scores on your intelligence test and i said, can i think about it overnight, can you sleep on it . You dont sleep. You turn 15 minutes here and there. I came back morning and reported and he said, dont say anything, you are three months too old. So, i went okay. Ill just volunteer for the tomb then. That was before, any of my volunteering took place. This is my crew. We were all 623 4, 32 inch waist, 175 pounds, plus or minus three pounds. So, we were all cookie cutters. He does not have a badge on, why . He is a new guy, he has not walked four months yet, he has not got to the place where you get to wear the badge for the first time yet. I will end this section with the creed, my dedication to the sacred duty is total and whole heart skmd the responsibility stowed on me, never will i falter and with dignity my standard will remain perfection. I will walk my tour to the best of my ability, it is he who commands the respect i protect, and surrounded by well means crowds by day, this soldier will rest in honor with my vigilence, and that is the end of part one. We will jump in to part two. Lee and i had a conversation, about two separate programs had that two separate programs that i did. And one of them is who is buried in arlington. Theres an amazing collection of people that some would not be someone you would connect with the military. This is the arlington house. In the other picture, we didnt see this. This is the grave of Pierre Charles. He came to america in his early 20s. Much like lafayette did and was a combat engineer for George Washington, washington learned of his design abilities and he had been studying design in france and chose him to design the federal city. And his design was very much paris like, with a rotating spoke. Which was great for carriages and rotten for automobiles. He had no clue, if you go to dc, you have to change lanes three times to get out the street the other side. So, Pierre Charles died in povertity, he was fired by congress and he petitioned congress for over 25 years to be properly compensated and he died in poverty. In 1909, with the help of the d ar he was dug up. What was left of him. Two with teeth and two small bones and some green fuzz and they brought him and put him in this crypt and on top of the table looking thing is the design. Of course, you see the city before you, the design of the city that lays before you. This is the grave of james lingen, if anybody here has heard of him, i will be surprised. He was probable the First American to die for the first amendment. He and a friend of his whom i will identify later, were helping defend a publisher in baltimore, named alexander hanson, he had been publishing articles very much against, in 1812, very much against the u. S. Fighting the britts again, public sent iment was overwhelmingly on the other side. And a crowd came and tore the building down and chased them. They went in to the jail, and the crowd got in to the jail, beat up the jailer, and got the keys, and took them out and beat them to what they thought was to death and his had friend had hot wax poured in his eyes. He succombed, he did not, and lingen did not. His friend, light horse harry lee. T the father of robert e. Lee. As they were expanding the u. S. Naval shipyard, they foundry mains and could not identify they found remains and they could not identify them and they said, what do we do . And they said, take them to arlington and make them symbolic of all those that died in the war of 1812. Now, this is the grave, i show you this before, its the grave of horatio wright. He was a graduate of norwich university, and he was an engineer and he was brought along with Thomas Lincoln casey. To restart the Washington Monument. The Washington Monument sat from 1854 to 1877 at 18 feet tall. It changes color and it gets darker. It was sitting so long, that they had to move to a new quarry and the color was not close. He was one of the engineers on the Washington Monument. Another circular thing, the guest of honor at the laying of the corner stone of Washington Monument, july 4, 1848 was George Washington port custus, the guy that helped him complete it is of looks like the Washington Monument. This is the grave of the first person of european descent to be buried on the property and her name is mary randolph. Randolphs were very prominent in virginia. Her father was Thomas Mann Randolph of the 1776 group in virginia, also a direct descendant of john rolf and pocahontas and she wrote a book called the virginia housewife that was the most popular cookbook and housekeeping book of the first half of the 19th century. Her cousin was Mary Lee Fitzhugh custus, the wife of George Washington custus. This is the grave, born april 30th, 1781. And died in 1957. From his death untilled union troops came across until he went to richmond lee was custodian of the property and executor of his will but never the owner of the property. Now, in 1877, their son, George Washington custut lee takes government to trial for wrongful seizure of the property. And wins. In 1882 the u. S. Supreme court agrees with the lower federal court ruling that the seizure was unlawful and they awarded title back to the lee family, to him, to George Washington custus lee. Well, there was a little problem about 16,000 burials. And mary lee, i mean, lees wife, wanted them dug up and removed and her reinstated to her property. She never got her way. She petitioned congress for the rest of her life after the war until 1873 when she passed. But her son was successful in getting title back. Well, that was obviously not going to work, so he accepted fair market value 150,000 onetime payment and dropped all claim to the property in 1883. Robert todd lincoln. Lincolns only son who lived past the age of 18. He was the firstborn 1843. Lived until 1926. He was invited to fords theater the night his father was shot. Showed up after the shooting at the peterson boardinghouse across the street. He was an arms length away from garfield when garfield was shot in 1881. He was in the crowd when mckinley was shot in 1901. He refused invitations to anything that the president attended thereafter. Until the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on memorial day of 1922. Theres Robert Todd Lincoln. Looks a little bit like his father in the ears and eyes. Warren g. Harding, William Howard taft. Warren harding didnt die right away but 14 months, 3 days later he was dead. Buried with their son Abraham Lincoln ii, very few people know that. There was such a person as abraham lynn conii it was the son of Robert Todd Lincoln named, of course, in honor of his grandfather and mary harlan lincoln, if anybody is from iowa, harlan, iowa, was named in her honor. This ill get this. This is William Howard taft the other president buried at arlington, very few people know that they are buried at arington national cemetery. These two have something in common. This grave or this swas designed by the same man. If you are a certain age you carry his artwork in your pocket. He designed the buffalo nickel. Thats s for san francisco. And that is f for frazier. After kennedy assassination, this is what the grave looked like. I visited it in 1964 and which is what it looked like in 1964. I got to be one of these guys for a few weeks before i moved on to the tomb in 1969. Theres the eternal flame, president ial seal. This is the current grave. Actually, theyve added a little, a little about 12inch stovepipe stainless steel so this eternal flame does disappear and returns when the wind blows hard enough it blows the gas away and the igniters are going all the time. Its just like the igniters on a gas stove. Just goes all the time. So, this flame comes back when the wind lets up enough for it to do so. Patrick Bouvier Kennedy who almost lived two days, not quite two days, died 16 weeks before jfk was shot. There are the brothers. Theres jfk. And, of course, jacqueline. She did not want onassis on her stone, but the u. S. Army, department of the army, would not bury her without her official name at death on her stone. Thats just regulations, so she had onassis on her stone. And bobby. When i was there it was just a simple this is now a marble cross thats anchored. It was just a white cross stuck in the ground. It was stolen numerous times during the time i was there. Arlington is not hard to get in at night. When we were at the tomb we would hear people coming and hear people walking through. This is a simple grave to the left of jfk. To the left of bobby is edward m. , ted kennedy. Now, i spoke at norad northcom and an old krucrusty colonel sa he never had any service. I said let me look it up. He enlisted and he spent his time at shape headquarters in europe. But he qualifies. Anybody who served in the congress, the house of representatives, the senate or on the Supreme Court who had any active duty service even one day qualifies for burial at arlington. You dont qualify for just being elected. You have to have some active duty service and ted kennedy is in and bobby had two years active and resve with the navy and a stone for the older brother. Theres a stone in arlington for glenn miller. If you are in a category called kiabnr you can get a stone. Ill show you a memorial section here shortly. You blew up in a b24 packed with explosive that was supposed to fly in and blow up the b2 facilities and it blew up instead of going to autopilot, it blew up and he and the navigator died. No remains ever found. And Evelyn Lincoln she was kennedys secretary. Lincolns secretary was kennedy. This is a megs marker. Its almost a work of art. Civil war soldier. This is the grave of phillip sheridan. Hes right under the tree right beside lefont. About 30 feet from that grave. Phillip sheridan, of course, one of the more capable union generals. Little phil 55, ruddy complexion. His claim to fame was burning the shenandoah valley. Phillip carney, his left sleeve theres no arm in that sleeve. He lost his left arm in the mexican war. And he reenlisted when the civil war broke out or the war between the states or the war of northern aggression, if you want to call it that. And he came a cavalry officer which was he was he was independently wealthy. He inherited a Million Dollars in 1836. He didnt have to be a soldier. He wanted to be a cavalry officer. That was his goal in life. And he at the battle of chantilly in the summer of 1862 he rode into confederate lines mistakenly instead of union lines and he was ordered to halt and he wheeled himself horse about and he was shot as he was leaving. General a. P. Hill a friend of his from the academy and said, oh, my god, youve killed phil carney. He didnt deserve to die in the mud like this but thats how he met his end. Abner doubleday. I learned that he created the game of baseball like a lot of other people did. He never claimed it himself. He was the first Union Officer to request permission to return fire against the Confederate States of america. He was in ft. Sumter on april 12th, 1861, when it was fired upon. He asked major robert anderson, may i return fire . He says, yes, yes, captain, and they started returning fire. But Abner Doubleday never claimed he said his westpoint roommate made up the myth so that the myth was that doubleday went to cooperstown, new york, in the summer of 1836 he was only 17 years old, and created the game of baseball from whole cloth. Well, he never claimed it, but the myth persisted and the myth was reconfirmed in the early 1900s there was a commission that reconfirmed that that was actually what happened. He said his westpoint roommate did that so that the Baseball Hall of fame would be located in cooperstown. Our went montgomery megs is buried and he was very, very selfeffacing. He just put soldier, engineer, architect, scientist, patriot on his grave and his wife and his son who was killed by a confederate patrol. He believed until his dying day that he was not killed in action but he was taken prisoner and executed because he his son. This is a relief in bronze on the grave of general george crook. And this is george crook presiding over the surrender of geronimo. Major william rosecrans. Some of the major names from the civil war decided to choose arlington. It was a potters field in 1861, and it started to become a place of great honor when the generals decided to be buried at arlington, and when the casualties from the maine were brought to arlington that became another reason for this to be a desirable place to be buried but rosecrans was one of the big names among union generals. This is horacio wrights grave and this is right by the front door of the arlington house. This is david d. Porter. David d. Porter was the admiral who ran the gun boats past vicksburg and moved grants men across the river so they could put pressure on vicksburg from behind and he lobbed shells until they surrendered in the siege oferected. Its been there a long time. And his beloved wife who has no name. This is the grave of lincolns valet. He was a free black. Lincoln hired him in illinois. William Henry Johnson came with lincoln. Went through the gauntlet when they were when they were avoiding the plot to assassinate him in baltimore on the way to his inauguration. With the help of pinkerton and some others he got through. But william Henry Johnson was his valet. He was a free black from illinois and he went with lincoln to gettysburg on the 19th of november for the for the address on the 19th of november. Mary todd lincoln did not go. She begged lincoln not to go because their son thomas tad lincoln was sick and the last time he had left with a sick son in the house was when willie died. So but he went anyway and he went with johnson. The night after he delivered the speech lincoln fell ill with smallpox. This man helped nurse him back to health. He contracted smallpox himself and died january 28th, 1864, and is buried in section 27, the one up by the iwo jima memorial that has so many interesting graves in it. Dan sickles was a piece of work. He was a tammany hall congressman in his early 30s married an italian girl who was 15 or 16 against wishes of both families. A couple years later he found out in 1859 that she was having an affair and she with the confession in hand shoots the guy in front of the white house in lafayette park. Shoots him dead. But hes not just anybody. He is the assistant the District Attorney for the District Of Columbia and his name is Phillip Barton key and his father is Francis Scott key. He gets off scotfree. His attorney edwin stanton, who was lincolns secretary of war, second secretary of war, but secretary of war through most of the conflict, is his defense attorney and he mounts the First Successful temporary insanity plea in u. S. Jure res jurisprudence. All his friends from congress have to come visit and congratulate him for ridding the district of this scoundrel who was absconding with other peoples wives. Fastforward to gettysburg. Day two on the left flank of cemetery ridge, sickles is in charge of the third corps and he takes them forward without meads permission and he should have been courtmartialed on the spot and they get slammed by confederate artillery and rendered useless. He gets hit by a munition and donates the leg to the mu sseum. He Petitions Congress for 30plus years to get a medal of honor for his heroic actions at gettysburg. Mead is afraid afraid to courtmartial him after the war because of his political connections and because of political connections he gets a medal of honor, the least deserving of the 371plus medal of honor recipients who are buried in arlington. Moses j. Ezekiel was the first jew admitted to the military institute. 1862. He was an ungainly guy, short, bow legged but he was extremely talented and became a world famous sculptor. Around the turn of the century. In 1911 he was commissioned to sculpt this. This is the tallest freestanding, thats about 33 feet tall, a big hunk of bronze, to honor the confederate dead, 843 buried in Arlington National cemetery. By necessity. They didnt choose to be buried there and many buried there originally were repatriated by their families because they didnt want them in a yankee graveyard. But this is the new south. Extending a wreath of peace towards richmond. The hand is holding a plowshare from isaiah 2 4 they shall beat their plowshares. This is a confederate grave, Confederate States of america. Its a confederate symbol pointed to the top instead of round like a federal grave. Two theories its pointed because it can be identified as a confederate grave. The other theory its pointed so no damn yankee would sit on them. Makes sense to me. And here they are. In concentric circles, mostly enlisted men. A few unknowns and some wives camp followers who died while they were following their husbands. Ezekiel dies. Hes made sir ezekiel by the crowns of italy and germany. He is knighted by the crowns of italy and germany. He comes back after his death, he is returned and buried at the foot of the statue to honor the confederate dead of which he was now one. His state funeral was the first ever state funeral. Only been, like, 13 of them since 1920. His was the first state funeral in this National Memorial amphitheater. Interesting. Confederate jew first ceremony in this building. Thats the mast of the battleship maine. The tomb is right there. This is on an axis. Theres the sentinel. Theres the sentinel box. Anybody know who this is . Thats padrewski. He was the franz lis of his day. His concerts got so raucous they had to stop touring. Some smart aleck said thats einsteins ahairdresser. He was Prime Minister of pollland for nine months in 1919. He was president of the polish government in exile after the blitzkrieg. He went to switzerland and then to new york and he died in new york in 1941. And when he died, Franklin Delano roosevelt proclaimed he should lie beneath the mast of the maine until poland was free. This ture rhett hret has the nal the soldiers. But padrewski lay here. We would see his casket on a gurney directly beneath the mast in this turret. Now, in 1899 december 28th they repatriated 170plus remains from cuba of sailors that had died in the maine had been interred and mostly unknown over half of them unknown attributing to the fact that this explosion was horrific, so horrific that four were in one casket. Now, we know who that is, right . Theodore roosevelt. Thats leonard wood. And that is 52 fighting joe wheeler confederate general who put on the blue in the spanishamerican war and fought alongside these gentlemen against the spaniards. He was said to have in the heat of battle said, now, lets go get them damn yankees. Oops. Spaniards. Okay. And he created a huge stir in the south when he died in 1906. He decided he wanted to be buried in arlington with his Union Friends and, boy, that set up a howl among the south. Joseph wheeler born september 10, 36, Major General United States volunteers 1898, Brigadier General United States army and he was a short guy but his monument wasnt. Overcompensation . William jennings bryan. Threetime democratic candidate from nebraska for president of the United States. He lost to cleveland, mckinley and taft. And then became secretary of war for the pacificist william. And he completed his arguments in the scopes trial. Thats bryan. Thats clarence darrow. 12 Supreme Court justices are buried at arlington. Number one, taft. He was chief justice of the United States. Earl warren. Warren earl berger. And william rehnquist. On the way up to the kennedy grave Oliver Wendell holmes. A few feet farther you look over and you see william brennan, potter stewart, marshall and harry blackmon. Nobody looks. If they were walt drug, it would be a big sign. See four Supreme Court justices buried in a row. But its arlington. William o. Douglas not far from rickover. Father of the nuclear navy. Hugo black. I like that he got a simple gi stone. And thorouurgood marshall. Not only was he the first black to sit on the Supreme Court he argued brown versus board of education before the Supreme Court successfully. This is my africanamerican section with medgar evers. Field secretary for the naacp murdered in his driveway by an admitted klansman and white supremacist. He was two hung juries, all white hung juries in the 60s and finally a mixed race, mixed gender jury convicted him in the 1990s and he died in jail in the early 2000s. Spotswood poles. The black ty cobb. He batted 0. 610 against major league pitching in exhibition games. Thats pretty good. Daniel tappy james the first four star general in the u. S. Air force. He was an original tus gihee tuskegee airman. This is james parks. He was born a slave in 1883. He was owned by George Washington custus. When the federal troops came across he didnt have anything to do. He said, ill work for you guys and he learned to be a brick mason and he built the brick barracks that i lived in at ft. Meyer. When those were all done and arlington began to become a cemetery, he began to dig graves for pay and he was an employee of the dod and dug graves until he retired at age 82. He was given permission by the secretary of war to be buried at arlington because of his history of slave, laborer, died in arlington county. This is the grave of matthew hensen. Righthand man to robert parry. Africanamerican. Denied membership in the Explorers Club because of his race. Finally admitted way after. This says discoverer of the north pole. I think we knew it was there. I think maybe first guy to get to the north pole would be more appropriate but anyway, theres the north pole on the its a really beautiful monument. This is the real life inspiration for indiana jones. This is hiram bingham. The discoverer of machu picchu governor of connecticut, senator from connecticut, he is buried at Arlington National cemetery. Richard byrd. And cora bennett, john wesley powell. Lake powell. He mapped and explored the grand cany canyon. One arm that he lost in the civil war. Okay. Adolphus greeley. Arctic explorer. Founder of the National Geographic society. John j. Pershing only general to carry general of the armies plural. There was no five star rank yet. They call it six because the five stars were singular. He was above them. He wore his silver four stars and plated them gold to indicate higher rank than four star. And frank buchols the last surviving world war i veteran buried not far from pershing in section 34. This is just outside the cemetery on the north. I love this photo. And buried at arlington are three of the six depicted in the statue. Michael strank, rene gagnon and the pima indian. And bill mauldin, the cartoonist. And section k, this is a memorial section, this is very interesting because there are about 14 of these seconds in arlington and you can tell theres nobody buried because the graves are about five feet apart, but these are places where glenn miller would maybe have his stone. Heres one from lost at sea, 1953, during the korean war. Heres one in memory of harry rosen. He was a private. What was he doing on a ship . Its a troop ship. The largest death toll of any troop ship sinking in the war. 1,800 americans died. They were off of the coast of algeria and they were hit by german bombers and it was a british ship. The british ship. They say ussrona it was the hnt rona and they hushed it up because they didnt want to let anybody know how many men were lost until after the war was over. This is the tomb. This is the hedge. On the other side of the hedge is my favorite second of arlington, 7a, alexander hague, joe louis, right next to joe louis, lee marvin. Side by side. Dirty dozen, pappy booointon, maxwell taylor, matt irvin, the most decorated soldier in our Second World War. He got his medal in 1980 because his paperwork had been lost for 30plus years. Jimmy carter hung it around his neck. He matched up with everything that audi murphy had on his medal resume only he had six oak leaf clusters on his purple heart. He was wounded seven times. Karl sutter. Hes one of the pueblo four. The reason publ beleblo is calle of heroes and hes one of those. Cap weinberger and he was drafted and became chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I hope always to be a soldier. Leonard wood. We just saw his picture. Walter reed. And for all you rotarians out there, the guy who created the oral polio vaccine. Albert sabin. Claire chenault. Who was he . Flying tigers. The american volunteer force. Avf. Now, this guy, everybody should know this name, thomas e e. Sulfrag. He was flying around ft. Meyer which is right behind arlington with orville wright, september 17th, 1908, and the propeller cracked and the plane nosed in. And wright survived. And suffrage was hit by the motor block. Fractured his skull. He died three hours later. Hes buried about 200 yards from where the plane crashed in arlington. Dasheel hammett. Communist, wasnt he . Yes, he was. And also a damn good writer. He wrote the red harvest, the critically most acclaimed but the two turned into movies were the maltese falcon and the thin man. He got tuberculosis medical discharge and Second World War he was editor of the newspaper in the aleutian islands. J. Edgar hoover tried to deny him burial in arlington because he was a commie and they said he qualifies twice. Francis gary powers, an upcoming movie about him. Gus grissom and roger chafee. Also in the apollo 1fire. Did you realize five calendar days account for all u. S. Space fay fayty t fatalities. Pete conrad. An original. If you read the right stuff you know he was an original. Stuart roosa, youve seen his granddaughters on the ussa ad, saying mine was earned. I just showed him with the astronauts. Jim irwin. Dick scobee commander of the challenger. The unidentified remains of the challenger astronauts. And audi murphy right across the street from the amphitheater. Anthony mcauliffe. He was a Brigadier General. He was commanding the 101st airborne when ordered to surrender, he said, natz. Ive heard that was edited. Five of the nine five stars are buried at arie in arlington. I was at eisenhowers funeral Opening Doors on march 30th of 1969. It was our day off at the tomb so we were called off. The first door i get the shah of iran. The next door is highly salasi and then next mitt romneys dad and the nixons in front of us and when the ceremony is over everyone is coming down the steps over here but i see a staff car coming my way with two red flags. Thats a general officer, so specialist is going to salute a general officer and as soon as i know he cannot see my eyes nor can my driver i take a quick look down and theres a feeble hand return my salute and there were five stars on his shoulder and omar bradley returning my salute at his buddy ikes funeral. George marshall. Hap arnold. William leahy. John foster dulles. Anita mcgee. Assistant surgeon spanishamerican war. First female surgeon. This is rear admiral grace hopper. She invoted cobal, the computer language. This was the first female to be a commissioned officer in the u. S. Services. This i show because there are 46 different symbols you can have on a grave in arlington. Thats one of them. Now, who is john coulter . I have no idea but i know who Constance Bennett was she was the sister of joan bennett and the sister of Barbara Bennett and her fifth and final husband was john coulter and shes buried at arlington but my favorite role she was in was, of course, with cary grant. Ludwig bemelmans. If you have daughters you read his books. If you are a girl when we were young enough and you were born after 1940 or before 35 to 40 you read his books because he wrote these lines in an old house in paris lived 12 little girls in two Straight Lines they left the house at half past 9 and he wrote and illustrated the books and in the Carlyle Hotel the bar has his artwork still on one of the walls. George westinghouse, dwight philly davis of the davis cup of tennis. Henry robert was in the civil war and he came back to the meetings with the veterans and the gar and he got so tired of these meetings just descending into chaos he decided to do something so he created roberts rules of order. I come back to this place. This is where my heart is. And i will end with this story. About five years before identify was a sentinel and this story has been passed on from sentinel to sentinel over the years, that a sentinel just stopped at the north end of the mat and had faced and he heard footsteps approaching. This is in the day when people could get really close to you. Heard footsteps approaching and weeping. And the weeping stops and a female voice says my son disappeared in france in 1444. This is the only place i have. God bless you, son, and thank you. And the steps recede and he never sees the speaker. Thats what this place is all about. This is the heart and soul of arlington is this place where we honor those who didnt come back and whose families had no i hate the word closure but they had nothing to hang anything on regarding their loved one. This is why we have this place and we will continue to guard it until there is no more United States of america. If you go to arlington go in the fall. Go now. Leave tomorrow. Thats the national cathedral. Thats the amphitheater. Theres the tomb right there. All the crowds are gone. The tour buses full of kids arent there. It is peaceful. It is comforting. There is an element of sadness, but there was a huge element of comfort because if you have a loved one buried there, they are with the best. Thank you. Thank you. Youre watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation like us on facebook at cspanhistory. Cspan presents landmark cases the book, a guide to our landmark cases series which explores 12 historic Supreme Court decisions marbury versus maddyson, and brown versus the board of education, miranda versus arizona and roe versus wade, landmark cases features introductions and backgrounds and highlights and the impact of each case written by tony morrow and published by cspan in cooperation with cq press an imprint of Sage Publications incorporated. 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