AUTHORS

JENIFER LEIGH VAN VLECK

ANC Education Program Holds Inaugural Teacher Workshop

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 7/31/2023

Teachers from around the region—and the country—came to Arlington National Cemetery on July 21, 2023 to learn about ANC’s Education Program and using the materials in the classroom. The teacher workshop provided educators with five professional development hours and was led by ANC’s History Office and members of the cemetery’s contract education team.

Marine Major General Reinterred at ANC

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 7/21/2023

Marine Maj. Gen. Harry K. Pickett, a veteran of World War I and World War II, deserved a more honorable funeral than the one he initially received near Darjeeling, India, in 1965. Fifty-eight years later, on July 19, 2023, Pickett received a military funeral honors with funeral escort service at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC).

Family Gathers at ANC for Korean War POW-MIA Memorial Service

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 7/10/2023

Pvt. First Class Alfred C. Bordeau joined the U.S. Army at age 17, spent his 18th birthday in a North Korean prisoner of war camp, and died before he turned 19. He left behind no wife or children, and his body was never returned to the United States. Yet his extended family made sure he would be remembered in a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on July 7, 2023.

Old Guard Soldiers Place Flags at ANC Headstones

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 5/25/2023

The soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard) never rush when they place American flags in front of headstones and niches at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) in preparation for Memorial Day.

ANMC Preservationists Help Rebuild Gates at Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 5/25/2023

Two Army National Military Cemeteries (ANMC) preservationists are leading the effort to restore two historic gates at the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Caitlin Smith, ANMC’s cultural resources program manager, and Daniel Holcombe, the conservation program manager, are overseeing the restoration of the main entrance and lodge gates to their post-Civil War status. Smith and Holcombe provide subject matter expertise to ANMC staff, ensuring that preservation best practices are incorporated into every project.

Dutch Flowers of Appreciation

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 5/10/2023

As Arlington National Cemetery prepares for Flowers of Remembrance Day on May 28, 2023, it is a fitting time to remember some other ways in which flowers have honored military service and sacrifice.

Stock Car Champion Denny Hamlin Tours ANC

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 5/5/2023

By Kevin M. Hymel, Contract Historian

Denny Hamlin’s mother took great pride in her son’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery. While the stock car driver took in these hallowed grounds on May 3, 2023, she texted him an important message: “Isn’t it amazing the honor you have to go there today and lay a wreath?”

Civil War Veteran Buried at ANC

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 4/28/2023

 

U.S. (Union) Army Capt. Isaac Hart probably never imagined that, while leading his company of Black cavalrymen during the American Civil War, his remains would be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in 2023. But that’s exactly what happened on April 27 in Section 76.

Contract Historian
Kevin M. Hymel

Expert Helps ANC Identify Artifact from the USS Maine

By Kevin M. Hymel, Historian on 4/14/2023

 

In February of 2023, Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) curator Rod Gainer needed to verify a relic from the wreck of the USS Maine. New Jersey’s Pascack Historical Society had offered to donate the artifact to ANC with limited provenance. So Gainer contacted Steve Whitaker, who has studied the famous ship and its place in history for the last eight years.

Contract Historian
Kevin M. Hymel

Intellectual, Suffragist and Pathbreaking Federal Employee: Helen Hamilton Gardener

 

Courageous, risk-taking women have long shaped the ongoing struggle for gender equality in the United States. While Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is most widely known as the resting place of many male military heroes, it also includes the graves of numerous prominent, pioneering women who were heroes in their own right. One such woman was Helen Hamilton Gardener (Section 3).

An intellectual, activist and champion of women’s rights, Helen Hamilton Gardner used her life experiences as inspiration for the social change she strongly advocated. Born Mary “Alice” Chenoweth, she sought independence early on by training at the Cincinnati Normal School to become a schoolteacher. At the time, teaching was one of the few acceptable paid professions for young women to pursue. She graduated in 1873 and took a position as a teacher in Sandusky, Ohio, where she quickly rose to become the principal of Sandusky’s new teacher training school.