Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery

On Memorial Day, I decided sort of spur of the moment to see what National Cemeteries were nearby, to go and pay tribute to those that have fought and died for our country. I discovered the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery about an hour south of me, so I made plans to head down there for the afternoon.

At the entrance, there's an information center where you can get a map, look up specific grave sites, and use a restroom if necessary. I stopped on the way out, but this is the dedication plaque affixed to the wall. It says:

Abraham Lincoln

National Cemetery

Dedicated to the memory of

all the patriotic men and women

who answered their country's call to service

William Jefferson Clinton

President of the United States

Togo D. West, Jr.

Secretary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Roger R. Rapp

Director, Office of Field Operations

National Cemetery Administration

Dedicated

October 3, 1999

Here's the entrance to a Memorial Walk. It's a nice shady walk, with many benches to sit on that have all been dedicated to individual veterans or by veteran groups like the VFW.

At the entrance, there's a marble memorial to the men and women who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor in WW2.

The top section reads: As the eagle soars, Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Founded 1958

The middle section reads: In memory of those 2403 gallant Americans who perished in the service of their country on the Hawaiian island of Oahu December 7, 1941. A day that will live in infamy. "He" bore them up on eagles wings.

The bottom section reads: Remember Pearl Harbor, dedicated by The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association of Illinois.

Part way in to the Memorial Walk is a square cement memorial to "The men and women who served", listing all wars from the American Revolution to Iraq. On the front, it says "Organized in 1896 by Jewish Civil War Veterans"

Spread in a few places throughout the cemetery are columbariums, where the cremated remains of men and women who served (and their spouses) are placed. There are a total of 16 columns on each wall, with four rows each. As I wandered around some of them, I could see where people had left flowers, pictures, flags, either at the bottom of the wall, or taped to an individual square.

In one smaller section of head stones, is what would be considered an unknown soldier marker. It says: The markers in the memorial area honor veterans whose remains have not been recovered or identified, were buried at sea, donated to science, or cremated and the ashes scattered.

Here is the small section, the marker above is way in the end. I wanted to get a picture with all the flags at each marker. Those flags were placed at every grave, just like you see at Arlington.

Here's a picture of some of the grave sites. There is a lot of construction going on, not sure if they will be adding more columbariums, or maybe a couple small parking areas. As I drove around, there weren't really any good areas to park if you wanted to get out and walk around.

While chatting with the lady at the information center, I found out President Obama appeared there last year for Memorial Day. No one could park on cemetery grounds, so they had to park way off and be bussed in. The day started out beautiful, and the closer it got to the time for his speech, the cloudier it got. About the time he started his speech, the sky opened up and absolutely POURED. There was nowhere for anyone to take shelter, and because of the president being there, no one could leave the grounds. Everyone was drenched while they stood around, or raced for any type of shelter they could find, while the president was ushered off to the safety of a vehicle. Fortunately, this year, only our "esteemed" Senator Durbin appeared. Glad I missed that yesterday morning!

Even though I don't have any relatives buried there, I felt honored to visit, and said a few words of thanks to them for their service.