New Graves, Fresh Grief (Arlington Cemetery - Section 60)

[RamboLiberal]

In Section 60, death remains too fresh to be separated from life.

You see it in the 17 cigars pushed into the grass near one headstone, signs that a combat unit stopped by.

And in the mother who spent winter afternoons wrapped in a sleeping bag, stretched across her son's grave.

And in the older man who reads Robert Frost to the dead, knowing that their families live thousands of miles away.

Here in Section 60 are the graves of 336 men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan -- almost one in 10 of the dead. Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have produced the highest percentage of burials at Arlington National Cemetery from any war. For the duration of this war, there have been few photographs of coffins returning home. Section 60 is the one place to get a sense of the immensity of the nation's loss.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/19/AR2007051901288.html?hpid=topnews

[Erika]

1. I visited Arlington for the first time last summer

I could not believe the acres of our war dead. For what.

My highlight was seeing the Kennedy gravesites. By the way, the graves needed a touch more watering.