GET OUT AND GIVE BACK / July, the Most Patriotic of Months

Photo by John Arundel Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009

July, I think, is our most patriotic month.

Maybe it’s the explosion of fireworks on the fourth day, or that all of America turns red, white and blue, or that last weekend my husband and I were lucky enough to see Tiger Woods honor military veterans throughout the week as he played and won the AT&T National golf tournament.

In any case, there’s something about July that makes me want to wave our flag.

Or maybe veterans are on my mind because we biked around the National World War II Memorial, with its imposing columns and rejuvenating fountains, last weekend.

No, I’ve been thinking about veterans ever since we attended a funeral at Arlington Cemetery with full military honors last month.  

Arlington Cemetery has its own sacredness that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. There’s a simplicity to the acres of green grass and small, white marble headstones that creates a zen-like tranquility that reinforces the “resting place” intention of a cemetery.
 
I had no idea how big Arlington Cemetery was until we drove, then walked, behind the caisson. As the horses slowly pulled the horse-drawn, flag-draped coffin through the winding paths of Arlington, it reminded me of that famous photograph of John-John Kennedy, wearing his peacoat and baby shoes, saluting his daddy’s coffin almost 50 years ago.

This time, though, no onlookers lined the road. Instead, thousands of silent headstones stood at attention, honoring their newest member.

Most headstones bore only the service member’s name and dates of birth and death. Some of these veterans never made it to age 20. Some lived to a ripe old age and their headstones named a wife or two or three.  
 
During the ceremony we stood rigidly, not daring to wipe sweat or shift feet as the young military chaplain attempted to comfort us.

As the rifles blasted their 21-gun salute, the bugle player played his lonely “Taps” and the burial flag was crisply folded and presented to the new widow, I looked across at those thousands of headstones, little Casper the Friendly Ghosts, standing sentinel and silently welcoming their newest member to their eternal club. And for every headstone I saw a mother, a wife, a father or a son, grief-stricken by their loss but proud of the life served.  

If you’ve never visited Arlington Cemetery, I hope you add it to your must-see list the next time you’re in Washington, D.C.

All funerals are heartbreaking but if you ever have the honor of attending a military funeral, please do so. And if you don’t, I hope you honor and thank our country’s veterans. They gave back.  

Get out and give back.

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