Air Force Magazine – July-August 2019

38 JULY/AUGUST 2019 AIRFORCEMAG.COM JULY/AUGUST 2019 AIRFORCEMAG.COM 39

the Pentagon, and where the Air Force

Memorial soars into the sky, its dramatic

contribution to the area’s skyline perpet-

ually changing as the sun sets and rises.

A five-year construction plan aims to

add up to 60,000 new burial plots and an additional colum-

barium to hold the ashes of thousands more. The plan

would turn the Air Force Memorial into the centerpiece of

a new southern entrance to the facility, potentially bringing

thousands more people to the memorial each year.

The change will alter the landscape, traffic flow, and

even the way people experience the memorial, which to-

day is accessible 24 hours a day, but under the new plan,

it would be contained within the cemetery’s perimeter

and only accessible during daylight hours. The memorial

entrance would have a multilevel parking facility and an

anticipated five-fold increase in visitors, said Maj. Gen.

James A. Jacobson, commander of the Air Force District

of Washington.

“This will further enshrine the Air Force Memorial as

Illustration: US Army Corps of Engineers; Air Force Magazine staff

Arlington House, once home to Robert E. Lee and his family, has

been surrounded by gravesites since the Civil War.

Photo: Wikipedia

Additionally, the panel recommended above-ground

inurnment for remaining World War II and Korean War

veterans who do not otherwise qualify.

Under the change, military retirees who served during

the Vietnam and later eras would no longer be eligible for

burial at Arlington unless they had been a POW, wounded

in action, or awarded an eligible medal.

Today, any Active Duty member or veteran with at least

one day of active service is eligible for burial at Arlington.

A MATTER OF SCALE

The United States has 300 National Military Cemeteries,

Veterans Affairs cemeteries, and state cemeteries available

to veterans. Yet of all of these, Arlington is by far the most

requested final resting place.

Each weekday, Arlington hosts 25 to 30 services, plus

1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

2040

May 30, 1929: President Her-

bert Hoover conducts the first

Memorial Day ceremony at the

cemetery.

Proposed

roadway

demolition

Project

boundary

Proposed

roadway

alignment

The southern
expansion
incorporates
the grounds of
the former Navy
Annex, road-
ways, medi-
ans, and other
space to add
room for 60,000
burial spots in
the cemetery.

April 1948: The US Army’s 3rd

US Infantry Regiment “The Old

Guard” begins its watch of the

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

November 1963: President John

F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington.

Four years later, he is re-interred

at a new site with the eternal

flame.

1991: Cemetery leadership

begins a $1.4 million project,

clearing a 13-acre parking lot

to make room for 9,000 new

gravesites.

1998: Remains from the Tomb of the

Unknown Soldier are identified as

USAF 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie,

who was shot down in Vietnam in 1972.

The remains are returned to his home-

town of St. Louis.

September 2002: A

memorial to the 184

victims of the 9/11

attacks at the Penta-

gon is dedicated.

February 2004:

A memorial to the

astronauts killed in

the space shuttle

Columbia disaster

is dedicated.

2004-05: Prop-

erty expansion

continues with four

acres from Arlington

County and 10 from

Fort Myer.

2000: Congress

authorizes the

Defense Department

to demolish the Navy

Annex and transfer

the property for cem-

etery expansion.

2025: Con-

struction for the

southern expan-

sion ends.

2023: Anticipated

roadway construc-

tion ends, cemetery

construction begins.

2013: The Navy

Annex is demolished.

Congress approves

$84 million for the

Defense Department

to construct the Mil-

lennium Project.

2007: The cem-

etery begins the

Millennium Project,

making room for

some 26,000 new

gravesites and

5,000 inurnments.

July 1948: President Harry S.

Truman issues Executive Order

9981 to desegregate burials at

Arlington.

January 1986: A memo-

rial to the seven astro-

nauts killed in the launch

of the space shuttle

Challenger is dedicated.

1996: Ownership of 12 acres

of woodland is transferred

from the National Park Ser-

vice to the cemetery, making

room for more burial sites.

1999: The Army

transfers eight

acres from Fort

Myer to the

cemetery.

August

2018 : A draft

environmental

assessment of

the southern

expansion is

released.

April 1932: The Tomb of the

Unknown Soldier is completed

and opened to the public.

another 10 on Saturday. In 2018, almost 6,500 service

members were buried at Arlington, many of them veterans

of World War II, Korea, and conflicts in Southeast Asia.

“We have a very high demand of veterans and their

families that want to come in to Arlington National Cem-

etery,” Durham-Aguilera said. “The demand far exceeds

our capability to meet them. So what that means is that we

have families that could wait anywhere from two weeks to

several months—nine months—for that date.”

In September 2018, there were 3,471 burial requests in

process, including 3,259 for cremation service and 212 for

casketed service, according to a report released in May by

the Defense Department inspector general. The number

of requests, coupled with documentation requirements, is

what drives delays from five to 49 weeks from the date of

an initial burial request.

The cemetery’s $81.7 million Millennium Project includ-

ed new burial sections, including one for in-ground burial

of ashes. That project added 27 acres and some 25,000 new

burial spots, and it extended the cemetery’s life by eight

years, Durham-Aguilera told lawmakers. Even that was

only a small start, however.

Expanding to the south (project "Southern Expansion"),

as proposed by the cemetery and the Army Corps of Engi-

neers, will add about 37 acres and up to 60,000 additional

plots, extending the life of the cemetery to the 2050s. To

accommodate that, roads must be rerouted and masses of

dirt moved, beginning in 2020 and running through 2022.

the history and heroism location for our service,”

he said. “Tying it in with the cemetery does what it can’t

do standing alone.”

But adding another 60,000 burial sites only forestalls the

inevitable. At the present pace, the cemetery will run out

of space in just 25 years. The second forecasted change

will help the Pentagon and Congress keep it operating far

longer than that, which is why they’re committing to mod-

ifying the rules that say who can be buried at the cemetery.

In November 2018, the Advisory Committee on Arlington

National Cemetery recommended that interment at Arling-

ton limit in-ground burial to service members who were:

■ (^) Killed in action
■ (^) Wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart Medal
■ (^) Awarded a Silver Star, or higher, decoration
■ (^) Held as prisoners of war
■ (^) Or who died on Active Duty
Air Force
Memorial
Operations
Annex
Former
Navy
Annex
site
Columbia Pike
S Joyce St.
Washington Blvd.
Arlington National Cemetery Southern Expansion
S Nash St.
395