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American Morning
Arlington National Cemetery, House have Rich History
Aired September 12, 2002 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A special ceremony this morning honoring those killed in the Pentagon on 9/11 and those aboard the plane used to attack the building. The ceremony takes place at the Arlington National Cemetery, or the ceremony, where the remains of those who died in the attack will be buried.
Bruce Morton takes a look back at the history of the second largest national cemetery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Arlington isn't America's oldest national cemetery or its largest, but it is the most famous. Presidents visit it on Memorial Day. Two, William Howard Taft and John Kennedy, are buried here. But it all started with this house.
George Washington's adopted grandson, whose name was Custis, built it. His daughter, Mary Anna, married Robert E. Lee and when Lee, who was the Confederate commander during the Civil War, didn't show up to pay his taxes in person during the War, the Feds confiscated the house and began burying their dead around it.
The first in May, 1864, was either a Pennsylvania infantryman or a Confederate prisoner who died, depending on what you read.
About 1,500 black Union soldiers are buried here. The Supreme Court years later said the confiscation of the house was illegal, but the Lees didn't want to live in a cemetery and took cash instead.
Arlington has grown ever since. More than 260,000 buried here now. Each Memorial Day, soldiers place a flag by each grave, one foot, one soldier's foot in front of it.
Seven thousand funerals a year, about. The day John Kennedy was buried back in 1963, there were two dozen other funerals, as well. Mostly veterans of American wars, of course, but a German and two Italians, prisoners of war during WWII, lie here, as well.
Arlington is more or less alongside the Pentagon. Workers repairing the building could see it as they worked. The victims being buried today aren't the first from those attacks. Some lie here already. Among them, Johnny Michael Spann, the CIA agent killed at Mazir-e-Sharif.
Arlington, a place of many memories of many wars.
Bruce Morton, CNN, reporting.
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ZAHN: And our live coverage begins at 9:00 Eastern Time. This ceremony expected to go just about an hour and we will be there live the whole time.
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