Back in 1864 , the Union was running out of space to forget Civil War casualties . Military official resolve to solve the problem byappropriating part of the Arlington , Virginia plantationthat belonged to Mary Anna Custis Lee , the married woman of Confederate General Robert E. Lee , and plow it into a military burial ground . Pvt . William Christman , a 21 - year - old soldier from Pennsylvania who died of the rubeola before he got a chance to see combat , was the first to be buried there .
In the years that follow , Arlington National Cemetery ( ANC ) , which covers624 acres(252 hectares ) across the Potomac from Washington , D.C. , became perhaps the nation ’s most hallowed ground , the last resting place for many of the nation ’s military sub , from Gen. Douglas MacArthur andPvt . Audie Murphy , the most adorn soldier of World War II , to service members kill in the late difference of opinion in Iraq and Afghanistan . Also buried at Arlington are explorers , astronauts and Supreme Court Justices . The grave ofPresident John F. Kennedy — marked with the gas - and - electric"eternal flame"that ’s designed to remain lighted despite nothingness and rain — appeal more than 16 million griever in the first three year after his 1963 assassination .
Over 7,000 Buried Each Year
But the cemetery , which has become the last resting place for more than 400,000 people , is rapidly filling up , with more than 7,000 being added each class . harmonize to areportprepared by cemetery officials for Congress in 2017 , there are fewer than 70,000 space left , and even with a current elaboration project that will lend most 11,000 below - background grave and 16,400 above - flat coat spots , the cemetery is projected to be full by the early 2040s .
" ANC and those it live to serve must therefore confront the world that , at some point in time in the future , the cemetery will no longer continue to engage as it does today , " the composition noted . " Most oldtimer from the late war in Iraq , Afghanistan , and the War on Terrorism will not have the option to be buried at ANC . Even our heroes who are down in action or those who have earned the Medal of Honor will not be buried at ANC within or so three 10 due to the deficiency of space . "
At a March 2018 earreach by the House Armed Services Committee , Karen Durham - Aguilera , executive director of the Army ’s National Military Cemeteries , further discover the quandary . " The current veteran universe is over 20 million , " she explained , according to anArmy media discharge . " The retired person population is over 2 million . The full force , both participating and reserve , is over 2 million right now . Today we have around 100,000 available burial spaces . We can not swear out that population . "
Even a proposed $ 274 million enlargement that would add another 38 acres ( 15 hectares ) along the cemetery ’s southerly border would only purchase an additional ten , Arlington National Cemetery overseer Katharine Kelley toldCongressat the same hearing , according to the Army ’s sack .
Should Eligibility Rules be Changed?
That ’s why officials are now contemplating changing Arlington ’s eligibility requirements . Under thepresent rules , activity duty fellow member of the armed services , as well as service member who ’ve served at least one twenty-four hour period of active responsibility and stay in uniform long enough — traditionally,20 years — to pull in retirement benefits , are eligible for below - priming burial . So are their spouses and youngster . So are recipients of various medals and prisoner of war who died after November 30 , 1993 . In addition , alive tariff and retired fellow member and their spouse and children , as well as reservist and National Guard members who die while on active responsibility or performing full - prison term service , are eligible for above - primer interment in theColumbarium , also known as the Niche Wall .
In the 2017 news report , Army official project a range of potential rule change . The most restrictive option would permit in only those who were killed in action and/or were present the Medal of Honor . " This pick can be expected to result in delaying the closure of ANC for at least two hundred — unless our Nation experiences big graduated table difference and higher numbers racket of Service members killed in legal action , " the news report explain .
But such a move also would exclude the vast majority of military stager and their syndicate , and seems probable to encounter pushback .
Gerardo Avila , a deputy director of the American Legion , a veterans association , state that the issue of what to do about Arlington is still in the discussion stages , though clearly , " Arlington is reaching capacity , and something needs to be done . "
In aresolutionat the American Legion ’s 2016 convention , the organisation urged Congress to ill-treat in and pass a jurisprudence that would throttle Arlington to service members who die on active responsibility , achiever of the Medal of Honor and other decorations , World War II - epoch veterans who allow the Robert William Service 30 per centum or more disabled , prisoner of state of war and career service members .
John Towles , director of national security and foreign personal matters for the Veterans of Foreign Wars , say in an email that the VFW is controvert to severe restrictions on eligibility for entombment at Arlington . " We advocate for a solution that will insure that the benefits that they earned through their service stay available to them , " he writes . " Because of this , the VFW can not put up changes that would take benefits away from old hand and family members who have already earned them , many of whom have already made design to be buried at Arlington . "
Another option to restricting eligibility for Arlington would be to produce a non - neighboring annex on land around theArmed Forces Retirement Homecampus in Washington , D.C. , about 8 - and - a - one-half miles ( 13.67 klick ) forth . Towles said that much of the site ’s 272 - Akko ( 110 - hectare ) expanse would be available . TheUnited States soldier ' and Airmen ’s Home National Cemetery , another interment footing function by the Army , already is nearby .
But even if it becomes more difficult to be buried at Arlington , veteran soldier still have the option of being buried at another of the135 national cemeteriesthat the National Cemetery Administration mesh in 40 states and Puerto Rico . They still would be entitle to the same ceremony , Presidential memorial certificate and perpetual forethought of their Graf that those interred at Arlington encounter , Avila tell .
