My girlfriend Emily and I visited Arlington Cemetery today to see Flags In and place flowers at her parents and my in-laws graves for Memorial Day. The feeling I get every time I visit Arlington is something I just can't express in words. This visit added the sound of thousands of cicadas singing. Arriving at 10am to no flags on the graves, we find out through a soldier that they will begin placing flags at 2pm. We also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and have a conversation with a very impressive Full Colonel who tells us he is incharge of the 3rd Infantry which will be placing the flags. He tells us it will take them 5 hours to place over 280,000 flags .
The tradition of Flags In dates back to 1948. The Old Guard place flags in front of approximately 228,000 headstones and at the bottom of about 7,000 niche rows in the cemetery's Columbarium Courts and the Niche Wall. Each flags must be centered and placed in a specific spot, exactly one foot in front of each headstone. Each soldier from the 3rd Infantry Regiment carries hundreds of small flags with them, each flag honoring the legacy of our fallen heroes, veterans and their families.
This is a wonderful action shot. What a daunting task and how impressive they carry it out with such a great precision! Your photo tells the story perfectly. One of my neighbors is buried there and it all of a sudden has much more meaning for me to see this. Thank you Leslie.