Knocking out the Monuments: Pershing Park

photo uploaded to flickr by wallygThe eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year has become a day we celebrate the sacrifices of all those who have served our nation, from the early days of our country to the present day. But we're going to take a minute on Veterans Day to examine the story of one in particular who is closely tied to the historical antecedents of today: Gen. John J. Pershing.

Situated on Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street NW, Pershing Park is remarkably secluded considering its prominent location. It is, in fact, quite easy to walk by and never notice, and even easier to miss if you're driving.

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Veterans Day Observances 2010

photo by M.V. JantzenThere's perhaps no better place to celebrate Veterans's Day and to remember those who served than Washington, DC. We're chock full of Memorials to various wars, branches of service, units, military notables, and so on.

Tomorrow will be the ground breaking of a new memorial in the nation's capital: the Disabled Veterans' Disabled for Life Memorial. Actor Gary Sinise, who played a disabled veterans in Forest Gump and who is deeply involved in veteran's causes, will headline the ceremony, which starts at 10:30 tomorrow. The Memorial will be near the Botanic Gardens, on the corner of 2nd St and Washington Ave SW. Nearest Metro is Federal Center SW.

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Weekly Washington: Same Old, Same Old

photo uploaded to flickr by J-BlueDiscussion continues to swirl around the Constitutionality of Washington, DC's nearly 100 year old tour guide licenseing program. The Institute of Justice's Robert McNamara laid out their position againt licenses in last week's Washington Post's All Opinion's Are Local column, and the Guild of Professional Tour Guide's President Jim Heegeman rebutted in this week's (WaPo Tag Fail: listed under "crime"). Both gentlemen further discussed the issue in person on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. The Washington Post aparently clipped and pasted the Institute of Justice's press releases in writing this Op-Ed, which must have taken as much as thirty minutes to research and write. John Kelly calls the Institute's lawsuit "ridiculously apocalyptic in its descriptions of the dangers of D.C.'s regs, raising the specter of taxi drivers being thrown in jail for pointing out the Washington Monument."

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Historic Congressional Cemetery - All the History, A Fraction of the Crowds

photo uploded to flickr by Mr. T in DC

Ahh, springtime in Washington. Between sweltering summers and cold, wet, and icy winters (if not normally mistaken for Buffalo's), spring and fall are DC's most pleasant times of year.

Unfortunately, I'm not alone in thinking this. Every year, millions of folks come down to the Mall, the Zoo, Arlington Cemetery, and other high traffic areas to take in the cherry blossoms and just enjoy the beautiful spring weather. So many, in fact, that I'm enjoying the relative peace and quiet of New York City right now. Times Square is almost pastoral compared to the British soccer riot that the Mall entrance to the Metro is during Cherry Blossom season.

So what to do if you come to DC, have seen the Cherry Blossoms, and don't want to mix it up with the crowds again? Let's take Arlington National Cemetery as an example. I can't say enough good things about that place. Whether you take theTourmobile, walk the main loop, or explore some of the other themes we've suggested, you can't helped but me moved by the weight of sacrifice and grandeur that permeates the place. That is, until you've been jostled with several thousand of your new friends trying to get a glimpse of the Changing of the Guard.

So save Arlington for the fall, when you can give it the attention it so richly deserves, and come visit another DC final resting place, Historic Congressional Cemetery. Tucked away in the back end of Capitol Hill (also known as the awesome part of the Hill), Congressional predates Arlington by over half a century. Never formally run by Congress, it served as ade facto National Cemetery until Arlington stole their thunder.

And that's fine. Part of the charm of Congressional is that it is, in many ways, very much still alive. Arlington's stately grandeur is appropriately enshrined, guarded for that matter 24 hours a day by armed infantrymen. At Congressional, the dead let their hair down a bit. Besides continuing as an active cemetery, Congressional fulfills what was once a commonplace role for urban graveyards; that of a public park. Maintenance is partly funded by fees from users who bring dogs there, local kids romp about, and neighbors just out for a stroll stop and chat among the tombstones. Before the advent of large urban parks (think Central Park in New York), cemeteries often provided the only green space available in dense urban areas. Congressional resuscitates and preserves that tradition, as well as providing a fitting home for generations past.

All fine and good, but why should you come? Well, the history of Historic Congressional Cemetery extends well beyond the local Capitol Hill community. Congressional got its start as the parish burial yard of Christ Church on G St. SE, between 6th and 7th. In Peter L'Enfant's original plan of Washington, graveyards were to be away from the urban center; a break in tradition from European and early American concepts where people were buried in church yard (think Trinity Church in New York), in dense in-fill lots (think Granary Burying Ground in Boston), or in the church itself (Westminster Abbey being the most famous example).

Among it's many other challenges in starting a new nation, the new Congress quickly found that they had to deal with members croaking far from home. They turned to Christ Church, who allowed Congressmen to be interred at the burial ground, and Congress provided cenotaphs, or monuments, for each of their own. While many of these remains were eventually returned home, 19 Senators and 71 Representatives are still buried here. And although it is no longer the fashion for Congressmen to die in DC (and those that do normally return home), the Cemetery occasionally is the still final resting place of Congressmen. Representative TomLantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, has recently been laid to rest here.

Besides members of Congress, Congressional is also home to John Phillip Sousa, the "March King"; J. Edgar Hoover, longtime director of the FBI; Matthew Brady, famed photographer of the Civil War; Eldridge Gerry, only Vice President to be buried in the District and the source of the term "gerrymandering", and many others. And while I could tell you much more, I don't want to ruin the surprise. Free tours are available every Saturday during the Spring, Summer, and Fall (check website to find start/end dates) at 11 am. If you can't make it then, the Cemetery offers self guided cell phone tours (pdf) or stop by the gate house to pick up a pamphlet on one of the many specialty tours. Subjects include the War of 1812, significant women buried here, Native Americans, and several others.

The office is open 9-5:30 Monday through Friday, and 10-1 on Saturday. However, unless there is a funeral, the grounds are open until dusk every day. To get here, take the Orange/Blue line to Potomac Avenue and walk up Potomac to 17th St SE. The Cemetery is the large plot of land filled with grave markers and dead people.

Larry Who? An Unexpected Arlington Cemetery Story

photo by Lauren Kahn

Arlington Cemetery is full of stories.  There are over 320,000 people buried there and you cannot help but be moved by a visit.  Sometimes you ask a question and you get an answer totally different from what you expected.  That is how I found out about Larry Thorne.

I was preparing to do a tour for a group of Finnish people.  I knew there was a grave near the Kennedy gravesite for Konstant Niemi which listed his place of birth (rather than one of the United States) as “Finland”.  I wanted to know more about him.  So, one day, I typed in “Finns buried in Arlington Cemetery” into google search.  I never found out anything about Niemi, but this amazing story about Larry Thorne came up.  He is known as the only soldier buried in Arlington who fought for 3 different countries.

Larry Thorne, who anglicized his name when he immigrated to the US, was born Lori Torni in Viipuri, Finland, on May 28, 1919.  During World War II, he fought for the Finns against Russia, when the Finns invaded the Finnish province of Karelia.  Viipuri is part of Karelia.  He enlisted in 1938.  Larry Thorne lost his home—as did many Finns--when the province of Karelia was eaten up by the Russians at the end of the Winter War (you know, the one where the Finns fought on skis).  There was massive population displacement as all the Finns fled to Finland rather than be absorbed into Russia.  It's a sore point in Finland to this day.  Viipuri, by the way, is now known as Vyborg.  Finns visit it to touch base with where their ancestors lived with great sadness.

Larry Thorne fought the Russians in the Winter War, initially as an enlisted man.  He was such a good soldier that he was eventually commissioned a lieutenant.  He continued to fight the Russians in what the Finns call the Continuation War from 1941-1944 with the Waffen SS.  Finland, by the way, ended up on the German side in World War II.  They didn’t much like the Germans, but they disliked the Russians more.

At the end of World War II, Thorne had a difficult time.  He was incarcerated for joining the Germans, but was pardoned in 1946.  The Finns had a difficult time sort of dealing with war guilt after it was over, but, they shouldn’t have blamed themselves.  There are currently just a little over 5.2 million Finns.  How could they fight either Russia or Germany and win?  They have repeatedly been squeezed between major powers. Their survival is a heroic story.  So is the story of their language—which is viewed as distantly related to Mongolian.

Thorne found post war work eventually as a seaman, but, in 1953, jumped ship and immigrated to he US landing in New York City.  In 1954 he enlisted in the US Army—a path followed by other Finnish officers who fought for the Germans in the Continuation War.  In 1960 he became a Captain in the US Army despite difficulties with the English language which dogged him throughout his time in the US.  He joined the Special Forces and was regarded as a soldier’s soldier. Then came the Vietnam War and Thorne was sent to Vietnam.  On October 18, 1965, he left for a clandestine mission in Laos.  He never returned, but it was known that he had perished because the remains of the helicopter in which he had been a passenger were found.

In 1999 Larry Thorne’s body was at long last buried in Arlington Cemetery together with some South Vietnamese soldiers who died with him.  The remains were scant and the families chose to mingle them together in the grave just as they had perished.  That’s why the tombstone is larger. Thorne is buried in Section 60, grave number 8136.  He was laid to rest on June 26, 2003.  He received a posthumous promotion to major.

Before doing my tour with the Finns, I went to visit Thorne’s tombstone to see if there was any way I could do the site in the tour.  I couldn’t because there was insufficient time.  I pointed out Niemi’s grave as we walked up to see the Kennedy brothers.  When I started to speak about Thorne, they all said, “Oh, Lori Torni.”  They all knew the story.

Thorne’s name is on panel 2E of the Vietnam Wall.  The people in the tour group photographed it.

Who knew?  And who else is buried in Arlington Cemetery who we have forgotten?  In Finland, Thorne was once voted #52 in a survey of the most famous Finns.  He fought for three countries and found his resting place among Arlington’s many heros.