Hello! My name is Matilda and I'm a tour guide with DC by Foot. Welcome to
Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington is one of our premier national cemeteries
here in the United States. There are over 400,000 people buried here.
Representatives from every single war the United States has fought in from the
Revolutionary War to the present day. There are also three main sights that a
lot of people come here to visit: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, including a
Changing of the Guard ceremony, the gravesite of President John F Kennedy,
and Arlington House. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was founded in 1921
right after World War I because we had a huge problem. There were all these
soldiers who were going fighting for their country, dying for their country
yet we couldn't identify who they were. And this was a problem because we
couldn't then thank and honor them with a burial with full military honors. And
that's where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier comes in. This is a place for us
to honor all those unknowns who have fought and died for the United States.
And one of the best things to come see here at Arlington is the Changing of the
Guard ceremony. It is incredibly difficult to be a Tomb Guard. It takes on
average a new Tomb Guard 12 hours to prepare their uniform for a guard
session. And the Changing of the Guard ceremony is mostly an inspection of that
uniform, to make sure it's in pristine condition and that they are able to
guard that tomb with honor. Well we're about to go see is the Changing of the
Guard. This is great to see because, you know, unless you're in the military it's
pretty rare to see a military ceremony. You'll notice that everything these men
and women do is very measured and very symbolic.
They take exactly 21 steps, turn face the tomb for 21 seconds, turn face the
walkway for 21 seconds, then take another 21 steps. This is a reference to the 21
gun salute, the highest military honor. So even the way they walk is a way of
honoring these unknowns. President John F Kennedy was a man of the people so it
makes perfect sense that after his assassination in 1963 his widow,
Jacqueline Kennedy, would want to have him buried here in Arlington. A cemetery of the
people. At his gravesite, there's a famous eternal flame
just kept going by a stream of oil and a constant spark so it never goes out,
always standing vigils to the Kennedys. Later on
JFK's wife, Jackie, joined him here along with two of their children who sadly did
not survive infancy. Kennedy's three brothers are also buried or memorialized
here and we will be visiting those grave sites as well. He first came here to
Arlington in 1961. Every Memorial Day, the president -sorry, first came here on
official business - every Memorial Day the President does
come here and gives his Memorial Day address. After his address Kennedy took a
tour of the cemetery and he went up to the house on the hill and looked out
over the beautiful view that we'll get to see when we go up there towards the end of
the tour. And he said - I could look at this view forever. So a few years later
when he was assassinated his wife Jackie remembered what he had said and she
decided that he would want to have been buried here instead of in the family cemetery
in Boston. Because John Kennedy was a man of the people and he was stolen from the
people by that assassination. So he belonged here in the people's cemetery.
The exact spot was chosen because he loved that view so much. So now he's here
on the hill where he does have that view forever. Arlington House was originally
owned by George Washington Park Custis, the step grandson of our first president
George Washington. But the more famous resident who lived here was a man named
Robert E Lee. Famous for being a lead general of the Confederate forces during
the Civil War. As soon as the war broke out in 1861, Robert E Lee did have to
flee his beloved home of Arlington south to Richmond to join up with the
Confederacy. Shortly after he left, the Union Army did come across the Potomac
River, took this place over and used it as a military base, which is what it
would be throughout the war. The soldiers staying in the home of their greatest
enemy were not very respectful with his home. They sold all of
his possessions on the black market and ransacked the place. And it wouldn't be
restored to its former glory until the 1980s, a hundred and twenty years later.
Today, thankfully, it is in beautiful condition and you can tour through the
house and get a really good idea of what it would have been like when Robert E Lee
lived there. This was used as a base throughout the Civil War and it was
justified. You can imagine coming over the river taking it over was not the
most legal way to acquire property. The way it was justified is that they passed
a law that during the Civil War you had to pay your taxes in person. Now neither
Robert E. Lee nor his wife Mary could go pay their taxes in person because
they'd be arrested, kept as prisoners of war. They did try to send a cousin to go
do this but it was not accepted. And so Arlington was seized on out due taxes of
$92.07. Thank you for visiting Arlington National
Cemetery with us. if you are interested in taking one of our tours our website
is www.freetoursbyfoot.com We do also have many other tours here in the DC
area for you to check out. We have tours of the Georgetown neighborhood, the
oldest neighborhood here in DC: Both a Historic Georgetown and a Ghost of
Georgetown. We also offer a Lincoln Assassination tour which goes into the
story of our nation's most famous assassination and the complex plot that
was behind it. And of course we also offer tours of the National Mall: a
collection of memorials which represent all the things that are most important
to the United States. We hope to see you here in DC sometime soon.