Episode 13: "I Could Stay Here Forever"

Aside from being a president cut down in his prime by an assassin's bullet, John F. Kennedy was a war hero. He was a naval officer who commanded a Torpedo Patrol Boat and saved the life of one of his sailors when their boat was sunk. I am sure that I will come back to that story in a later episode.

After LT Bird's casket team brought Kennedy into the Capitol Rotunda to lay in state, it was placed on the same catafalque (box) that President Lincoln's casket was placed on.

Jacqueline, holding the hands of her two children, Caroline and John, Jr., left the White House with her brother-in-law Robert, and moved to St. Matthew's Cathedral for JFK's Requiem Mass.

It was outside the church after the mass that John-John snapped off his famous salute to his father. 

President Kennedy was ultimately brought across the Memorial Bridge and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, where, just a few months earlier, he had told a park ranger he could stay forever.

Many people worked behind the scenes to make sure the funeral went off without a hitch. One of those was Captain Michael Groves, the commander of the Old Guard Honor Guard company. A few days after the funeral, he collapsed at his dinner table, dead of a heart attack at age 27. He was laid to rest in Section 30, Grave 897-LH, within site of President Kennedy's gravesite. I had the honor to lay a wreath at his grave in December 2018 for Wreaths Across America, and this is my favorite picture that I have taken at the cemetery.

The rifle volley and Taps from President Kennedy's Funeral:

Episode 12: The Century's Nastiest Little War & Two More Unknowns

After the kind feedback I received from James, a former 10th Mountain teammate of mine, I was inspired to see what I could find out about his uncle, Marine Corps Corporal Paul Kenneth Taylor, who fought at the Battle of Chosen in Korea and died of wounds sustained in that frozen hellscape. 

Section 31, Grave 4501

Commanding General of the US 8th Army, Walton H. "Johnnie" Walker accidental death in a jeep accident in Korea and subsequent return for burial at Arlington while fierce fighting was still ongoing lead to a public out cry and the US Government adopting a policy of concurrent return where, from there on out, all those killed in action would be repatriated for a prompt burial on US soil.

GEN Walker's Jeep after being pulled out the ditch

Though he was about to be fired by MacArthur, Time Magazine wrote a cover story about him and the 8th Army's breakout of the Pusan Perimeter in July 1950, 5 months before his death.

A veteran of WWI, WWII, and Korea, Walker had been dubbed Patton's Bulldog as a major general in WWII and the Savior of the 8th Army before his death in Korea. Today he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Pershing Hill, Section 34, Grave 86-A.

Other Korean War casualties arriving at Arlington shortly after General Walker, included four Medal of Honor recipients: Marine Private First Class Walter Monegan, Jr, Army Sergeant Frist Class Charles Turner, Marine Staff Sergeant William Windrich, and Navy Hospital Corpsman Francis Hamond.

Pfc Walter Monegan, Jr

Section 34, Grave 4513

SFC Charles Turner

Section 12, Grave 7762

Ssg William Windrich

Section 31, Grave 4856

HN Francis Hammond

Section 33, Grave 9011

Episode 11: The Last Great War?

Though new to combat, then-Private First Class Alton Knappenberger proved to be a literal one-man army, but always emphasized how scared he was. After the action for which he received the Medal of Honor, Knappie sat down and cleaned his now-infamous Browning Automatic Rifle.

Unlike many Medal of Honor recipients, Knappie returned home from war and lived a long peaceful life, passing away at the age of 84.

Though he shunned the limelight in life, his family wanted to recognize his service and decided to not bury him in his native Pennsylvania, but instead at Arlington National Cemetery. Ironically, his funeral happened on the 64th anniversary of his actions in Italy for which he was decorated. Today, Staff Sergeant Alton Knappenberger rests in Section 59, Grave 3193.

Alton Knappenberger's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, on February 1, 1944, near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy. When a heavy German counterattack was launched against his battalion, Pfc. Knappenberger crawled to an exposed knoll and went into position with his automatic rifle. An enemy machinegun 85 yards away opened fire, and bullets struck within 6 inches of him. Rising to a kneeling position, Pfc. Knappenberger opened fire on the hostile crew, knocked out the gun, killed 2 members of the crew, and wounded the third. While he fired at this hostile position, 2 Germans crawled to a point within 20 yards of the knoll and threw potato-masher grenades at him, but Pfc. Knappenberger killed them both with 1 burst from his automatic rifle. Later, a second machinegun opened fire upon his exposed position from a distance of 100 yards, and this weapon also was silenced by his well-aimed shots. Shortly thereafter, an enemy 20mm. antiaircraft gun directed fire at him, and again Pfc. Knappenberger returned fire to wound 1 member of the hostile crew. Under tank and artillery shellfire, with shells bursting within 15 yards of him, he held his precarious position and fired at all enemy infantrymen armed with machine pistols and machine-guns which he could locate. When his ammunition supply became exhausted, he crawled 15 yards forward through steady machinegun fire, removed rifle clips from the belt of a casualty, returned to his position and resumed firing to repel an assaulting German platoon armed with automatic weapons. Finally, his ammunition supply being completely exhausted, he rejoined his company. Pfc. Knappenberger's intrepid action disrupted the enemy attack for over 2 hours.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the Polish pianist, composer, and later statesman, was the first prime minister of modern Poland and later became the president of Poland's government in exile during World War II, established in the United States. 

When he died in 1941, he was temporarily interred at Arlington under the USS Maine memorial. The plan was to repatriate him once the war was over, but he had to wait more than 50 years as Poland fell under the Soviet sphere of influence in post-WWII Europe. 

In 1963, President Kennedy lamented that Paderewski was still unable to be repatriated and placed a marker at Arlington that still honors the man today, nearly 30 years after he did return to Poland.

In 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Paderewski's final wish of returning to Poland was realized when his ashes were placed in St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw. Today, his Steinway & Sons grand piano sits under his portrait at the Polish Embassy in Washington, DC

General John J. Pershing will get his own episode in the future so I won't put much about him here for now, but when I saw that while he may have been forgotten late in life because of the outbreak of World War II, thousands turned out for his funeral at Arlington in 1948.

Episode 10: Keeping Promises and Breaking Faith

When legislation was passed the renovate the Lee Mansion and return it to its appearance just before the Civil War, the remarkable memory of James Parks, a former slave, born on the plantation who had remained after emancipation to dig many of the early graves in the new national cemetery, helped identify the use of many rooms in the house and many outbuilding that had been on the grounds.

The Lee Mansion circa 1900

When Parks died in 1929, his last wish was to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery and his many friends in the Department of Defense helped him receive a special dispensation from the president. 

James Park

Shortly after his burial, the local Veterans of Foreign War post placed a special marker over his grave to ensure his legacy would not be forgotten.  

Parks' marker from the VFW - not the most PC message today but it was a touching gesture at the time

Parks died less than two months before the start of the Great Depression, which, by 1932, had no end in sight. WWI veterans returning from Europe after the 1918 armistice received bonus vouchers to be paid (to those still alive) in 1945. That money was desperately needed now so 20,000 veterans and their families descended on Washington DC to demand payment.

The House of Representatives passed a bonus bill but it was defeated in the Senate and politicians in Washington figured the Bonus Army would accept defeat and return home. When they did not, the police tried unsuccessfully to disperse the crowd.

The clash began peacefully but eventually, bricks were thrown and shots rang out. Two veterans, William Hushka, a 35-year-old Latvian immigrant living in Chicago, and 38-year-old Eric Carlson from Oakland were killed and buried at Arlington National Cemetery shortly thereafter.

William Hushka (I was unable to find a picture of Eric Carlson)

Hushka is buried in Section 18, Grave 2262

Carlson is buried in Section 18, Grave 5217

After the police failed to disperse the crowd, President Hoover authorized the Army to move in. Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur personally lead the force of 200 cavalry troopers commanded by Major George Patton), 400 from Ft Myer into Washington DC, and five tanks (!) into Washington where they used tear gas to force the Bonus Army back to their Hooverville in Anacostia.

Ignoring orders to the contrary, MacArthur entered the Bonus Army encampment, gave the veterans and their families 20 minutes to evacuate, and burned it to the ground.

Government officials praised MacArthur's handling of the situation but when the general public learned what had happened, the outcry was quick and fierce. Less than four months later, Hoover was soundly defeated at the ballot box by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Three days after Hoover's defeat, the permanent sarcophagus promised for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 10 years earlier was finally dedicated but the local VFW disrupted the ceremony to protest the Hoover administration's attack against the Bonus Army.

The new sarcophagus was installed in early 1931 and carved in place in time for the November 11, 1931 dedication ceremony

The carvings included three figures representing Victory, Valor, and Peace, inverted laurel wreaths, and Doric columns

A simple epitaph was also inscribed: Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God

Episode 9: Known but to God

The Meuse-Argonne Cemetery is one of eight cemeteries in Europe dedicated as the final resting place of American service members killed in World War I. 

The three unknown soldiers not selected of transfer to Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were placed in Block G, Row 1, Graves 1, 2, and 3 

Construction on the Tomb of the Unknown Monument at Arlington was completed in approximately six months and was ready for dedication on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921.

 The body of the Unknown Soldier was transported from France on the USS Olympia and arrived in Washington, DC on November 9, 1921.

The Unknown Soldier laid in state in the Capitol Rotunda on November 10, 1921, and was visited by 90,000 - 100,000 people at a rate of 100 per minute. President Warren G. Harding was one of the dignitaries who was able to visit on November 9th. 

A huge crowd turned out to watch the Unknown Soldier's final movement from the Capitol Building to Arlington National Cemetery.

 

As part of the burial ceremony, General Pershing tossed American dirt into the mausoleum, where the Unknown Soldier would rest on French soil brought over on the Olympia.

Several dignitaries from WWI allied nations attended the burial ceremony, including Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow Nation who placed his war bonnet onto the Unknown's Casket before it was lowered into the mausoleum.  

The original sarcophagus for the tomb, seen here on its first anniversary, November 11, 1922, was smaller than today's sarcophagus and was intended to be a temporary marker. It was eventually replaced by what is in the cemetery today in the 1930s... but we'll talk about that next week.