Nearly 400,000 veterans and dependents, pres=
idents and paupers, are buried on the expansive grounds of the Arlington Pl=
antation of George Washington Parke Custis. The mansion, buil=
t in 1818, was the nation’s first memorial to his adoptive grandfather, Geo=
rge Washington. The home became the repository of hundreds of relics and ar=
tifacts that once belonged to George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon.=
Custis’ daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis would then marry a young Robert=
E. Lee in the house in 1831. This house became the residence of Robert E. =
Lee and his family before the Civil War. During the War, the house was seiz=
ed by the Union Army who turned the grounds into a military cemetery, Arlin=
gton National Cemetery. Today, the National Park Service serves as the stew=
ard of this important resource, the Robert E. Memorial at Arlington and the=
surrounding Cemetery.
But WHO is buried ther=
e? Here are some short (and cryptic) clues about these historic or fa=
mous people whose bodies rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Can you=
identify the person from a few facts? THAT is your “search of =
the grounds” this Memorial Day week.
1.=
____________ US Navy Rear Admiral, first to reach the North Pole
2. ____________ First soldier to fire reply from Fort =
Sumter, San Francisco cable-car patent, baseball
3. ____________ World War II veteran, heavyweight boxing champion, Brow=
n Bomber
=
4. ____________ First Black 4-star G=
eneral in Air Force, 179 combat missions in Korea and later Vietnam
5. ____________ Eternal flame, PT-109, Profiles in C=
ourage
6. ____________ MIA band leader, Major=
in Army Air Force, memorial in cemetery
7. _=
___________ Only person born on the grounds to be buried there, freed in 18=
64, maintenance worker
8. ____________ Confir=
med that mosquitos transmitted Yellow Fever, Panama Canal, honored by Milit=
ary Medical Center
&n=
bsp;
9. ____________ Most-decor=
ated serviceman of World War II, move star of ‘To Hell and Back’=
;, Major US Army
&nbs=
p;
10. ____________ Opening pit=
ch of baseball season, first president buried in Arlington, seventh inning =
stretch
11. ____________ Brown v Board of Edu=
cation, first African American justice of the supreme court
12. ____________ Rear Admiral in US Navy, highest ranking wo=
man buried in Arlington, invented COBOL, labeled first problem in computer =
coding as a ‘bug’
13. ___________=
_ Architect of Washington DC, partner with George Washington, Revolutionary=
War veteran
14. ____________ Cenotaph (empty=
grave site), sinking of USS Juneau, famous enlistees from Waterloo, Iowa, =
at start of World War II
15. ____________ Con=
federate veteran, Sculptor of Confederate Memorial in Arlington, First Jewi=
sh graduate of Virginia Military Institute
16=
=2E ____________ US Army Chief of Staff in World War II, rebuilding post-wa=
r Europe, 1953 Nobel Peace Prize
=
17. ________=
____ Captain in US Army under Ulysses Grant, US. Secretary of War, only sur=
viving son, US Ambassador to United Kingdom,
18. ____________ Project Mercury, 149 fighter pilot missions in World War =
II & Korea, oldest astronaut in space
19. ____________ Founded Nat=
ional Geographic Society, Major General is US Civil War, Arctic explorer, M=
edal of Honor
=
20. ____________ Editorial cartoons, Pulitze=
r Prizes, war-weary and bedraggled Willie and Joe
~~
Dr =
Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"=