Funeral at Arlington National Cemetary

[mwilson]

We were invited to attend services for our former neighbor Richard Tokarz. A decorated Phantom pilot.
I am working on the story of our trip in another thread but wanted this by itself...

We had instuctions to be at the Old Post Chapel in Fort Meyers by noon today. We left the campground at 11.00 am so as to be there on time. Only about 20 miles but traffic on these beltways is intense so we allowed an hour. Found the correct entrance and spent about 10 minutes clearing security. Made it onto the base and drove right to the chapel...

 

[mwilson]

Some pictures of the inside...

 

[mwilson]

Service was at 1.00 pm...handled with Military precision. They had one more to do after.

Have a few pictures of the service after being reassured that it was ok to do so..

 

[mwilson]

Now we were told that people could walk behind the horse drawn wagon but each vehicle in the lot needed a driver and had to follow. The parking lot can not be tied up with vehicles from a previous funeral. As most attendees were elderly the decision was made for all to ride as the gravesite was about 1 1/2 miles in...the place is huge....so in goes the Wilson tribe and the noisy truck....

 

[mwilson]

More to follow, calling it a day..

 

[mwilson]

As we began to drive in we noticed that quite a few spouses are buried here as well, hadn't really thought about that before...

 

[mwilson]

A few more pictures along the way in...

 

[mwilson]

The Air Force Memorial..

 

[mwilson]

Graveside...

 

[mwilson]

Proof I was there....

 

[Tractorat]

Very cool mwilson, thanks for the pics.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Thanks for posting. Was there several years ago with family.
Whether I visit or look - can't do it without something in the wind irritating my eyes and making then water....



So grateful, yet so sad to think of all those lives...

 

[DavidC]

God Bless all that rest there.

Dave

 

[Wayne M.]

Yes thanks for sharing. Never realized the other type momuments (spouses?)

 

[mwilson]

Yes thanks for sharing. Never realized the other type momuments (spouses?)

Neither had I!!!

There is a proliferation of large headstones coming in from the Fort Myer side..some quite recent..

 

[mwilson]

Now Fort Myer is the base for the "Old Guard"... reception was held at their officer's club. Apparently in addition to their duties at the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" they handle the Arlington funerals as well. We had seen the tomb from the backside and wanted to walk over to it. We had all been given passes so that we could return to the base for the reception and had to surrender it when we came out with the truck. Well I figured we could walk back in and see the tomb. Checked with the guard at the cemetery entrance, he told us we could enter the cemetery but would not be able to re-enter through that same gate to get my truck back...that took the fun right out of that brilliant idea...only exception would have been if I held a Military ID...so we drove about 20 minutes to enter through the Visitor's Center and walked about a mile to get back to roughly the same area that we had been in before....it was worth it though...if you have never been to Arlington please put it on your bucket list...you won't regret it..

 

[Northfork]

Thanks for sharing. It is a humbling experience to be there I am sure.

 

[GCroyle]

Mike,

Best thread you have done or will ever do. Thanks for attending for your Soldier neighbor.

Gary

 

[Grey Wolf]

A beautiful place to send off one of our fallen hero's. May he rest in peace....GW

 

[Larry Willard]

Mike
Thanks for your write up, it was very good. We live 50 miles from there and haven't been to the cemetery for many years.
Larry