WEBVTT - When Will Arlington Cemetery Run Out of Space?

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:07.000
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:10.520
<v Speaker 1>Lauren voge obam here. Back in eighteen sixty four, the

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.920
<v Speaker 1>Union was running out of space to bury Civil War casualties.

0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.599
<v Speaker 1>Military officials decided to solve the problem by appropriating part

0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.079
<v Speaker 1>of the Arlington, Virginia plantation that belonged to Mary Anne

0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.400
<v Speaker 1>Custis Lee, the wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee,

0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.960
<v Speaker 1>and turning it into a military burial ground. Private William Christman,

0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.640
<v Speaker 1>a one year old soldier from Pennsylvania who died of

0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.800
<v Speaker 1>the measles before he got a chance to see combat,

0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.839
<v Speaker 1>was the first to be buried there, according to the

0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.360
<v Speaker 1>Arlington National Cemetery website. Though neither Robert E. Lee nor

0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:43.080
<v Speaker 1>his wife ever tried to return to the former plantation,

0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.080
<v Speaker 1>their eldest son eventually filed a lawsuit claiming the land

0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.960
<v Speaker 1>had been illegally seized. In an eighteen eighty two decision,

0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.720
<v Speaker 1>the U Supreme Court agreed and Congress had to purchase

0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:53.840
<v Speaker 1>the property from him for a hundred and fifty thousand

0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.000
<v Speaker 1>dollars so that the National Cemetery could continue in the

0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.640
<v Speaker 1>years that followed. Arlington National Cemetery, which cover six hundred

0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:02.720
<v Speaker 1>and twenty four acres that's two hundred and fifty two

0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.240
<v Speaker 1>hectors across the Potomac River from Washington, d C. Became

0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.559
<v Speaker 1>perhaps the nation's most hallowed ground, the final resting place

0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.640
<v Speaker 1>for many of the nation's military heroes, from General Douglas

0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.760
<v Speaker 1>MacArthur and Private Addi Murphy, the most decorated soldier of

0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.559
<v Speaker 1>World War Two, two service members killed in the recent

0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:23.600
<v Speaker 1>conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also buried at Arlington are explorers, astronauts,

0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.040
<v Speaker 1>and Supreme Court justices. The grave of President John F. Kennedy,

0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.920
<v Speaker 1>marked with a gas and electric eternal flame that's designed

0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.759
<v Speaker 1>to remain lighted despite wind and rain, attracted more than

0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.640
<v Speaker 1>sixteen million mourners in the first three years after his

0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.919
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty three assassination. But the cemetery, which has become

0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.840
<v Speaker 1>the final resting place for more than four hundred thousand people,

0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.000
<v Speaker 1>is rapidly filling up, with more than seven thousand being

0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.720
<v Speaker 1>added each year. According to a report prepared by cemetery

0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.920
<v Speaker 1>officials for Congress in twenty seventeen, there are fewer than

0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.760
<v Speaker 1>seventy thousand spaces left, and even with the current expansion

0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.880
<v Speaker 1>project that will add nearly eleven thousand below ground graves

0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.480
<v Speaker 1>and sixteen thousand, four hundred above ground spots. The cemetery

0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.600
<v Speaker 1>is projected to be full by the early twenty forties.

0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.280
<v Speaker 1>The report said, A and C and those it exists

0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.160
<v Speaker 1>to serve, must therefore confront the reality that at some

0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.240
<v Speaker 1>point in the future the cemetery will no longer continue

0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.360
<v Speaker 1>to operate as it does today. Most veterans from the

0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.640
<v Speaker 1>recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terrorism

0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.959
<v Speaker 1>will not have the option to be buried at A

0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.840
<v Speaker 1>and C. Even our heroes who are killed in action

0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:29.959
<v Speaker 1>or those who have earned the Medal of Honor will

0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.080
<v Speaker 1>not be buried at A and C with an approximately

0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.000
<v Speaker 1>three decades due to a lack of space. At a

0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.119
<v Speaker 1>March twenty eighteen hearing by the House Armed Services Committee,

0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.720
<v Speaker 1>Karen Durham aquilera executive director of the Army's National Military Cemeteries,

0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.840
<v Speaker 1>further described the predicament. She explained in an Army media release,

0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.000
<v Speaker 1>the current veteran population is over twenty million, The retiree

0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.239
<v Speaker 1>population is over two million. The total force, both active

0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.400
<v Speaker 1>and reserve, is over two million. Right now today, we

0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.280
<v Speaker 1>have around a hundred thousand available burials basis, we cannot

0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.560
<v Speaker 1>serve that population. Even a proposed two hundred and seventy

0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.440
<v Speaker 1>four million dollar expansion that would add another thirty eight

0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.120
<v Speaker 1>acres that's fifteen hectors along the cemetery southern border would

0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:15.880
<v Speaker 1>only buy an additional decade. That's why officials are now

0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:21.160
<v Speaker 1>contemplating changing Arlington's eligibility requirements. Under the present rules, active

0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:23.920
<v Speaker 1>duty members of the Armed services, as well as service

0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.120
<v Speaker 1>members who have served at least one day of active

0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.560
<v Speaker 1>duty and stayed in uniform long enough traditionally twenty years

0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.040
<v Speaker 1>to earn retirement benefits, are eligible for below ground burial.

0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.520
<v Speaker 1>So are their spouses and children, and so our recipients

0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.200
<v Speaker 1>of various medals and prisoners of war who died after

0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:44.200
<v Speaker 1>November thirtieth. In addition, active duty and retired members and

0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.480
<v Speaker 1>their spouses and children, as well as reservists and National

0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.440
<v Speaker 1>Guard members who die while on active duty or performing

0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.360
<v Speaker 1>full time service, are eligible for above ground burial in

0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.960
<v Speaker 1>the columbarium, also known as the Niche Wall. In the

0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.920
<v Speaker 1>seen report, Army officials proposed a range of possible rule changes.

0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.120
<v Speaker 1>The most restrictive option would allow in only those who

0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.160
<v Speaker 1>were killed in action and or were awarded the Medal

0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.680
<v Speaker 1>of Honor. The report said this option can be expected

0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.120
<v Speaker 1>to result in delaying the closure of a C for

0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.960
<v Speaker 1>at least two centuries unless our nation experiences large scale

0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.000
<v Speaker 1>conflict and higher numbers of service members killed in action.

0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.080
<v Speaker 1>But such a move also would exclude the vast majority

0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.320
<v Speaker 1>of military veterans and their families and seems likely to

0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.520
<v Speaker 1>encounter a pushback. Girardo of Vila, a deputy director of

0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.920
<v Speaker 1>a veterans association called the American Legion, says that the

0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:37.039
<v Speaker 1>issue of what to do about Arlington is still in

0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.200
<v Speaker 1>the discussion stages, though clearly Arlington is reaching capacity and

0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.279
<v Speaker 1>something needs to be done. In a resolution at the

0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.279
<v Speaker 1>American Legions twenty sixteen convention, the organization urged Congress to

0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.839
<v Speaker 1>step in and pass a law that would limit Arlington

0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.919
<v Speaker 1>to service members who die on active duty, winners of

0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.880
<v Speaker 1>the Medal of Honor and other decorations, World War Two

0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:00.000
<v Speaker 1>era veterans who left the service, thirty or more, disabled,

0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.320
<v Speaker 1>prisoners of war, and career service members. We spoke via

0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>email with John Towell's director of National Security and Foreign

0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.159
<v Speaker 1>Affairs for the organization a Veterans of Foreign Wars. The

0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.600
<v Speaker 1>group is opposed to severe restrictions on eligibility for interment

0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.760
<v Speaker 1>at Arlington. He said, we advocate for a solution that

0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.080
<v Speaker 1>will ensure that the benefits that they earned through their

0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.760
<v Speaker 1>service remain available to them. Because of this, the VFW

0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.799
<v Speaker 1>cannot support changes that would take benefits away from veterans

0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.520
<v Speaker 1>and family members who have already earned them, many of

0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.080
<v Speaker 1>whom have already made plans to be buried at Arlington.

0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.400
<v Speaker 1>Another option to restricting eligibility for Arlington would be to

0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.800
<v Speaker 1>create a non contiguous annex on land around the Armed

0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.440
<v Speaker 1>Forces Retirement Home Campus in Washington, d C. About eight

0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.560
<v Speaker 1>and a half miles that's thirteen and a half kilometers away.

0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.960
<v Speaker 1>Table said that much of the site's expanse would be

0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.719
<v Speaker 1>available the United States Soldiers and Airmen's Home National Cemetery,

0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.800
<v Speaker 1>another burial ground operated by the Army, already is nearby,

0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.679
<v Speaker 1>but if it becomes more difficult to be buried at Arlington,

0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.560
<v Speaker 1>veterans still have the option of being buried at another

0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.320
<v Speaker 1>of the hundred and thirty five national cemeteries that the

0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.320
<v Speaker 1>National Cemetery Administration operates in forty States and Puerto Rico.

0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.760
<v Speaker 1>They would still be entitled to the same ceremony, presidential

0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.800
<v Speaker 1>memorial certificate, and perpetual care of their graves that those

0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:24.360
<v Speaker 1>interred at Arlington received. Today's episode was written by Patrick J.

0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.080
<v Speaker 1>Tiger and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this

0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.920
<v Speaker 1>and lots of other honorable topics, visit our home planet,

0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:42.560
<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works dot com