For those who aren’t aware of it, this region has a connection with one of our oldest military units.
Fort Larned National Historic Site has for years interpreted the role of the Third Infantry as an Indian Wars garrison here in Kansas.
Today, the Third, known as the Old Guard, performs the important ceremonial duties in Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere in Washington, D.C.
This summer, however, they had another job. One that is being done under the cover of darkness, so they don’t interfere with funerals or other activities.
As the Associated Press noted: “The sometimes eerie task to photograph more than 219,000 grave markers and the front of more than 43,000 sets of cremated remains in the columbarium is part of the Army’s effort to account for every grave and to update and fully digitize the cemetery’s maps. The Old Guard performs its work at night to escape the summer heat and to avoid interrupting funerals.
“Last year a scandal over mismanagement at the nation’s most hallowed burial ground revealed unmarked and mismarked graves. Congress then mandated that the cemetery account for the graves of the more than 330,000 people interred in the cemetery. Markers may bear more than one name, such as a service member and spouse.
“The photos taken at night are matched with other records to find discrepancies that need to be fixed, and officials say it’s too early in the process to draw any conclusions. Military officials hope they can eventually use the photos to create an online database for the public. Four million people annually visit the cemetery.”
We should be proud of our connection to these young soldiers ALL the time, but we should be especially gratified with this most recent job they have taken on, and we can depend on them to get the job done and done well.
There may be a lot of problems with our government. There may be a lot of places where we have not planned well, where we have not spent well, and where we are not getting our money’s worth. There may even be a lot of that in the nation’s military. But it isn’t here. It’s not in the serving soldiers, whether they are serving in combat or in a ceremonial function. Either way, we can rest assured that these young people are giving us our money’s worth.
This effort to document correctly the details of this national cemetery is crucial to our heritage. It won’t win anyone medals, but it will be vitally important to family members for years and years to come.
The members of the Old Guard deserve for the whole country to be proud of them for what they are doing.
— Chuck Smith