section 60

a sobering article. a sad, beautiful article.

New graves, fresh grief in Arlington Cemetery
Perennially sedate cemetery adjusts to the needs of mourners of this war

By Darragh Johnson

In Section 60, death remains too fresh to be separated from life.
You see it in the 17 cigars pushed into the grass near one headstone, signs that a combat unit stopped by.
And in the mother who spent winter afternoons wrapped in a sleeping bag, stretched across her son's grave.
And in the older man who reads Robert Frost to the dead, knowing that their families live thousands of miles away.
Here in Section 60 are the graves of 336 men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan — almost one in 10 of the dead. Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have produced the highest percentage of burials at Arlington National Cemetery from any war. For the duration of this war, there have been few photographs of coffins returning home. Section 60 is the one place to get a sense of the immensity of the nation's loss.
The great expanse of the cemetery is known for its orderliness, its precision. Each Memorial Day, the government places an American flag exactly one foot in front of every headstone. Only flowers are allowed on graves.................