Skip to main content

Arlington Cemetary

The JFK grave has not changed any over the years.  Bobby Kennedy is buried 50 yards to the south on the same hill.  He hasa simple cross and his name on a small stone.  Ted Kennedy's grave is to the left of Bobby's and looks exactly the same.  To the left of that is a monument to Joe Kennedy who was killed in WWII when his plane exploded over the English Channel.  He was on a very dangerous mission.  His plane was laden with explosives abd he was to get it started toward his target and bail out, letting remote control take over.  Something went wrong and the plane exploded before he could bail.  His body was never recovered but he does have a humble monument next to his brothers.
     Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated soldier in WWII, including a Medal of Honor.  His grave is just west of the structure where the Tomb of the Unknowns is.
Murphy survived the war and went on to star in some movies.  He was killed in a plane accident or perhaps it was a car.
     Visiting the Tomb of the Unknowns and watching the changing of the guards is an emotional experience.  These soldiers stand out there walking their post rain or shine.  Afew years ago during a hurricane they were ordered to stand down in the interest of not getting killed by flying debris.  The disobeyed orders and walked their post through the hurricane.
     There are three bodies of unknown soldiers entombed.  One from WWI, WWII, and Korea.  There was one from Vietnam but he was identified by DNA and his family wanted him diinterred and moved home.
     Not far from the Tom of the Unknowns is the grave of JoeLouis.  He was heavy weight champ for 12 years.  The Brown Bomber served during WWII.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Highways

 I find it interesting to come across a highway number down here that is the same as a highway number up in our neck of the woods. Yesterday, we spent some time on Highway 281, which is the same U.S. highway that goes through Jamestown and crosses Highway 2 at Churches Ferry.  I-35 splits into I-35 W and I-35 E as it passes through Ft. Worth and Dallas, just as it does in the Twin Cities. Many years ago in North Carolina, I was on U. S. 52, which runs from Portal SE across America, sometimes disappearing for hundreds of miles, swallowed up by highways that get more respect.  On the way down here we crossed U. S. 30, which is known as the Lincoln Highway out east because it passes through Gettysburg and Northern Illinois.  I don’t know who devised the U.S. highway system, but they made it interesting.

Dallas where JFK was assasinated

I am standing on the sidewalk reading the historical marker.  Out in the street behind me is a white X painted where the Presidential limo was when Kennedy eat hit with the fatal head shot (the third shot).  Farther up the street to my right an X marks the spot where the second shot hit him high on his back. This was the “magic bullet” that went through JFK’s back and then hit Connelly.  That billet actually caused seven wounds.  Beyond me is the Texas Book Drpository.  Oswald shot from the far right window on the sixth floor. That window is behind the tree. Only the seventh floor can be seen from this angle.  Ruth is standing next to the stone pedestal in which Zapruder stood and made his famous video of the assassination.  Dealy Plaza is across the street behind her. This was taken up in the Sixth Floor Museum. This is the window Oswald shot three shots from.  The boxes are arrranged just as they were on 11/22/63.  This is the X on the stre...

Day 4, Monday

 We slept in at a small motel in Johnson City. Then we visited the LBJ stuff in Johnson City.  That took about an hour. Then we drove west to the LBJ ranch, where we visited the gravesite and the ranch complex. It was quite an extensive thing,  hundreds of acres.  We followed that up with a visit to a peach stand. Peach pie, cobbler, and ice cream, which we ate at the LBJ roadside rest Then we drove to the Cedar Lodge Resort on Lake Buchanan for the Skar reunion. We were the first ones there. The test of the Rolf Skar branch trickled in and we had a delicious pasta supper. The younger, more handsome Brian Skar’s wife, Tonya, is super organized and did a great job with the meal.  100 degrees temperature.  The ranger in Johnson City informed me that the name of the lake is pronounced “Buckanan”. I told him I taught history for 30 years and if the lake was named after the 15th President it was pronounced Byoochanan.  He informed me that “Texans like to do...