Author: Kevin M. Hymel, Historian
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Lt. William Baily Montgomery gave his life to save others. As a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot in the Eighth Air Force during World War II, his bomber took flak over Saint-Cyr, France, near the German border, on June 22, 1944. Montgomery and his copilot struggled to get their shot-up bomber home. Once they reached the English coast, Montgomery ordered his crew to bail out. Seven crewmen successfully left the aircraft, leaving Montgomery, his copilot, and engineer. The bomber crashed into a farm in West Sussex, England, killing the three.
“We are rightly celebrating Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate’s contribution to Israel and his very strong support for the creation of a Jewish state,” said Dame Karen Pierce, the British Ambassador to the United States, to a small crowd gathered in Section 12 of Arlington National Cemetery, a few feet from the headstone bearing Wingate’s name. About 30 people, mostly British and Israeli officials along with American Jewish war veterans, came together to honor Wingate on Sept. 8, 2023.
Friends and family of Lt. Irma Cameron Dryden, the last living Tuskegee Airmen nurse, came to Arlington National Cemetery to honor her life at her funeral service on Aug. 24, 2023.
Seventy-two years.
That’s how long Ernest “Ernie” and Norma Faye Barchers, Jr. were married. They married in 1948, a year after they first met in church. The marriage only ended when they passed away in 2020 and 2021, respectively. They were inurned together at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 22, 2023.
Under mostly sunny skies and light breezes—perfect jump weather—veterans of the 82nd “All American” Airborne Division gathered at Arlington National Cemetery’s (ANC) Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Aug. 9, 2023, to lay a wreath and remember their fallen comrades in arms.
Almost 200 veterans from Wisconsin, along with their escorts, came to Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on July 28, 2023. Among the group were two Vietnam-Era U.S. Army veterans who earned the Medal of Honor: Spc. 5 (Ret.) Jim McCloughan and Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Sammy Davis.
Army Pfc. Jessica Kwiatkowski leaned forward as she walked against the wind and rain. As a Tomb Guard with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), she walked her twenty-one steps in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in the middle of a violent rainstorm on the evening of Saturday, July 29, 2023. Amid the storm, she walked her post without the ability to see.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni surprised Arlington National Cemetery’s Curator Rod Gainer when she told him about the history of Italy’s Unknown Soldier. As Gainer was concluding a personal tour of ANC’s Display Room, which features a historical exhibit on the American Unknown Soldier, Meloni explained how the Italians chose their unknown soldier from World War I.
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 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).