Placing wreaths at Arlington National Cemetary

Braineack

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Lovely work. Hallowed ground. Thanks for sharing.
 
Fantastic shots


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Very touching to see these fine photos. Good work.
 
It was a bit overwhelming. I've lived here my whole live and have never visited the Cemetary. I've seen it, and even drive by it everyday. I understood the scale of it, but once you step foot on the grounds it really hits you. What I have pictured is maybe 1/20th or 1/30th of the entire grounds.

I wanted to walk up to Robert E Lees house and JFK's gravesite and check out more of the grounds but it was a trek and my parents weren't up for it.

It was really touching to see how many people came out to pay repects. A crazy amount of people showed up to lay wreaths. If you look at shot DSC_2897-8 you can see the line of people for just one truck.
 
Wonderful job, and thank you for sharing.....
 
It was a bit overwhelming. I've lived here my whole live and have never visited the Cemetary. I've seen it, and even drive by it everyday. I understood the scale of it, but once you step foot on the grounds it really hits you. What I have pictured is maybe 1/20th or 1/30th of the entire grounds.

I wanted to walk up to Robert E Lees house and JFK's gravesite and check out more of the grounds but it was a trek and my parents weren't up for it.

It was really touching to see how many people came out to pay repects. A crazy amount of people showed up to lay wreaths. If you look at shot DSC_2897-8 you can see the line of people for just one truck.

Lovely and sad photos.

If we manage to get snow in the next couple of weeks, you need to make a special trip to ANC to shoot that (see the edit below).

Additionally, you should check out Section 60. That is where the Iraq and Afghanistan war dead are buried. Especially moving and very personal. It's been called the saddest acre in America. It's very common to see personal mementos left on the headstones...pictures, clothing, balloons, and of course rocks, coins, and tokens on top of the headstones.

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that last person is almost my exact same age...

If I decide to make a trip back I'll let you know if you wanna tag along. I'd like to see it all without all the masses of people.

This is about the extent of what I was able to see:

upload_2015-12-14_9-32-14.png
 
If you contact ANC, they can tell you if a burial is scheduled for that day. I would insist on shooting only at a distance (and then discretely notifying the family that I would provide them any edits for free as a thank you for the service of their family member). But the funeral protocol by the Old Guard and the entire process is both humbling and majestic. It's something I want to shoot. And of course, new fallen snow adds a whole new feel and stillness to ANC. Section 60 is south and east of the area you were in--near but not bordering I-110.
 
It was a bit overwhelming. I've lived here my whole live and have never visited the Cemetary. I've seen it, and even drive by it everyday. I understood the scale of it, but once you step foot on the grounds it really hits you. What I have pictured is maybe 1/20th or 1/30th of the entire grounds.

I wanted to walk up to Robert E Lees house and JFK's gravesite and check out more of the grounds but it was a trek and my parents weren't up for it.

It was really touching to see how many people came out to pay repects. A crazy amount of people showed up to lay wreaths. If you look at shot DSC_2897-8 you can see the line of people for just one truck.

That is what America is all about.
 
BTW, on the West side of the Lincoln Memorial, on a clear night, with the naked eye you can see JFK's eternal flame flickering below the Lee Mansion.
 
Until recently, not all headstones got wreaths. They were donated by a company (Worchester Wreath Company in Maine) and it wasn't a sufficient number for the entire cemetery. And then the effort was expanded to military cemeteries across the US (and not just Arlington). For instance, my shot earlier (of the wreaths in the snow) was when there were only a limited number of wreaths (2013). 2014 was the first year that there was a wreath at every headstone.
 
yeah about 240,000 wreaths and 70,000 people showed up to place them.
 

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