National Military Easter Sunrise Service: April 20

The annual Easter Sunrise Service, hosted by Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, will be held at Memorial Amphitheater on Sunday, April 20. 

Published on: Wednesday, April 2, 2025 read more ...

AUTHORS

Author: Kevin M. Hymel
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The Capture of Berchtesgaden

By Kevin M. Hymel on 5/2/2020

After Adolf Hitler took his own life on April 30, 1945, and Soviet forces captured Berlin on May 2, only one prize remained for the Allies: Berchtesgaden, the town near Adolf Hitler’s mountaintop retreat.

Doolittle Raider Richard Cole

By Kevin M. Hymel on 4/18/2020

Seventy-eight years ago today, on April 18, 1942, Lieutenant Richard Cole sat next to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle as Doolittle flew his twin-engine North American B-25 Mitchell bomber off the deck of the USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean. 

JFK’s World War II Rescuer

By Kevin M. Hymel on 2/18/2020

Without William F. Liebenow, there might not have been a President John F. Kennedy. Today, thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery, while few people visit the simple headstone that marks Liebenow’s grave in nearby Section 62.

Air Force Chief of Chaplains Recalls a Flyover

By Kevin M. Hymel on 2/12/2020

Chaplain (Major General) Steven Schaick, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, spent three years as a young captain conducting funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. He has plenty of fond memories of his service there, but ask him about his most poignant recollection and he’ll tell you about the flyover.

Laying a Wreath at ANC

By Kevin M. Hymel on 2/11/2020

Valerie Haeder enjoyed the pine scent wafting from the back of the truck filled with wreaths as she waited to receive hers. “It’s Christmas in a truck,” she recalled.

Battle of Midway Hero Rests at ANC

By Kevin M. Hymel on 12/20/2019

In the movie “Midway,” Lieutenant Commander Richard “Dick” Best (played by Ed Skrein) dives his SBD Dauntless bomber toward two Japanese aircraft carriers and drops his bombs, scoring hits on both—on the same day! Anyone watching the movie might think this heroic act was the stuff of Hollywood dramatic license, but it was not.

Kevin M. Hymel
Navy
US Navy

Marine Private Edwin Francis Benson’s Repatriation from Tarawa

By Kevin M. Hymel on 11/29/2019

Whenever Edgar and Mary Argensinger asked their grandmother what happened to their Uncle John in World War II, she always told them the same thing: Her son was “blown to bits” on a Pacific Atoll called Tarawa. That’s why his body was never returned to her.

Kevin M. Hymel
DPAA
Marine Corps
Section 60
Tarawa