Fort Myer South Post part of ANC expansion history

Photo By Brian Parker | An Arlington, Va., aerial view from the mid 1960s shows the Pentagon and Fort Myer’s South Post (left). Later in the decade until the mid 1970s, South Post buildings were leveled as Arlington National Cemetery took over the base land for burial expansion. A portion of Fort Myer’s former South Post is where Section 60 is located. Courtesy of U.S. Army  

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

01.24.2014

Courtesy Story

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

By Jim Dresbach
Pentagram Staff Writer

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - With the construction of the Millennium Project and the Navy Annex expansion, burials at Arlington National Cemetery and inurnments will be available to veterans and service members for the next half century. Just four decades ago, the need for additional hallowed ground was of paramount importance as aging World War I and World War II veterans passed away and the Vietnam War fallen were brought home from Southeast Asia.

From 1968 to 1975, Arlington National Cemetery incrementally took over Fort Myer’s South Post, an area which encompassed land from Memorial Drive to today’s ANC maintenance buildings. A parcel of land that once belonged to South Post is now Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60 – eternal home to many service members and veterans who perished at the Pentagon during the 9/11 attack and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The first military burial at Arlington took place on May 13, 1864, and the original cemetery grounds held close to just 200 acres. Each weekday, an average of 25 to 30 funerals originate from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Old Post Chapel and Memorial Chapel as well as ANC’s administrative building.

The 624-acre cemetery, which contains nearly six dozen sections, is observing its 150th anniversary this year.

• Date Taken: 01.24.2014
• Date Posted: 01.24.2014 09:30
• Story ID: 119594
• Location: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VIRGINIA, US