Day Seventeen - Rest, War Memorials, and Arlington Cemetery

Our day started with a plan for a day of rest at the campground.  We were thinking that we would have some "down time" on Saturday, and visit the rest of the things we wanted to see today, Sunday.   The boys played at the playground in the morning and swam in the pool, and us girls enjoyed some walking, talking and just hanging out around the campsite.  After lunch, we decided to go play some frisbee football around the Capitol Mall area.  So we loaded up and headed toward the city.  We didn't realize just how crowded the city had become!  We couldn't find a place to park except out in a field by the war memorials.  So we played there for a bit, and then decided while we were so close to the Lincoln Memorial and the war memorials, we ought to go ahead and see them.  If we had waited until today, we would be pulling the trailer, and that would make parking again that much harder.  So we started with the Lincoln Memorial, then the war memorials, and then we also decided to go ahead and visit Arlington Cemetery.  And boy, are we glad we did!!!!  We arrived at Arlington Cemetery right around 6:45, and headed straight for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Within just a few minutes of being there, we happened to catch the changing of the guards which started right at 7:00pm, and just before the cemetery closed!   What a perfect way to end our time in Washington, D.C.  We were soooo blessed!!!

I have soooo many pictures of the day's sights, so it was challenging to pick just a few to post here.

But first, a couple pictures of our walk to the sights . . . 



Daddy loves wearing this T-shirt! : -)

 The BEST biggest brother in the whole world!!!

 

Vietnam War Memorial

We talked with this kind veteran for a while. 

He was a helicopter medic.  He said they flew 700+ missions. 

He also explained what the symbols on the wall by the names mean. 

A diamond means the soldier's body was recovered.

A plus sign means the soldier's body is still MIA. 

When the soldier's remains are found, they chisel out the plus sign sign to make it into a diamond. 

We saw many of these.

He explained to us about JPAC - Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command

It was very interesting to learn that they are still searching for the missing soldiers from all the wars, and testing DNA to identify anything that they can find.

"The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command conducts global search, recovery, and laboratory operations to identify unaccounted-for Americans from past conflicts in order to support the Department of Defense’s personnel accounting efforts.

The command is located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and was activated Oct. 1, 2003. Employing more than 400 joint military and civilian personnel, JPAC continues its search for the more than 83,000 Americans still missing from past conflicts. The laboratory portion of JPAC, referred to as the Central Identification Laboratory, is the largest and most diverse forensic skeletal laboratory in the world."

 

 

 A little snack on the way!

Like his color coordination?

Hey, at least he has shorts on today! : -)

 World War II Memorial

 There were inscriptions such as this, all around the memorial.

 Korean War Memorial

 

 These carvings into the marble walls were absolutely amazing!

Arlington Cemetery

Crossing the Potomac River 

"The northeastern entrance to the Arlington Memorial Bridge features The Arts of War sculptures, Sacrifice and Valor, which were completed by Leo Friedlander in 1951."

 

 We watched the lone guard for several minutes,

not knowing that the changing of the guard was coming soon! 

 In the far right corner,

the sargeant is giving the new guard a thorough check.

We felt soooo blessed to end our time in Washington, D.C.

in this way!  What an awesome experience!!