View From The Middle
Patriotism Is Not Lost At Our National Cemeteries
By Charles Rogers

Allow me to share with you some reflections during a few hours I was privileged to have experienced during the Memorial Day weekend when I had occasion to visit Calverton National Cemetery near Riverhead, Long Island.

Obviously, it was a special weekend at this hallowed place. For those who have never been there - or who have only seen a cemetery just like it in depictions of Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. during a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, must be impressed with sheer patriotism of these national graveyards, the resting places of those who have served in the Armed Forces and their wives.

The grounds are open usually from early morning until dusk and the rules are slightly relaxed because of the occasion and this particular holiday, which, since the Civil War, is set aside for the purpose of honoring all those interred there. Although I was situated far from the general entrance, where final services are held and where there is a giant wheel-like rotunda where multiple burial services might be held at one time, I could still hear the morbid, but sweet, sounds of "Taps" being played.

Small American flags adorn individual gravestones at Calverton National Cemetery.

It was touching to see that all of the nearly 200,000 graves on this weekend were patriotically adorned with a small, individual flag - quietly and compassionately placed by a member of a troop of the Boy Scouts of America. I was told that, during the previous week, each one walked through every resting area with a rucksack on his back carrying the flags, as he dutifully, thoughtfully drove them into the ground in front of the stone or plaque.

In 1978, when the cemetery was officially opened, all the sites were marked with a bronze plaque embedded in the ground. But a few years ago, they began putting white, three-feet-high granite stones in the ground for markers. Thus, in some areas all you can see from a distance is a field of small flags, while in others you see the fields of stones with the flags in front of them.

The cemetery is usually very quiet, befitting such a place, but on this day the family of the veteran whose grave site is next to the one I was visiting arrived while I was there. We extended pleasantries and words of comfort to each other and the deceased man's widow allowed the two children - one about four and the other about six - to go to the marker. And, yes, it was touching again to hear them ask, "Is this where daddy is?" and, "I hope he's comf'table." And the mother would say, "Oh, yes. He's comfortable, all right."

When visiting here, for the most part, the obvious feeling is indeed somber, but there are those other special feelings as soon as you arrive and throughout the visit. Yes, because of it being Memorial Day, the Veterans Administration goes all out to make it Decoration Day too. After all, that was the original purpose of this special day - so we could put a day aside to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. As you enter, the entire roadway - for about a mile or so - is lined with huge American Flags about every 10 yards. Farther in, they're spaced about 20 yards apart. There is a pathway lined with a variety of memorials, most commemorating soldiers of 20th century wars.

There is one overwhelming fact that strikes you when you visit here, and that is the absolute compassion exhibited by the U.S. government when it comes to our war dead. I've seen Arlington and some of the others, and now Calverton, and it's evident there is something added to the general sympathetic tenor of the surroundings, and that is patriotism. You can feel it the moment you enter, and it stays with you, making your visit all the more emotional, but all the more worthwhile.

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