ANC Blog - Kevin M. Hymel

Family Says Final Goodbye to World War II Uncle They Never Knew

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:02:00 GMT

During World War II, 20-year-old U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Henry “Harry” Younge enjoyed playing his trumpet for his B-29 bomber crew during bombing missions from Guam to Japan. His trumpet skills even landed him a performance on the radio show “Time to Smile,” which was scheduled to broadcast live from Guam on April 24, 1945. Unfortunately, Younge was never able to share a single note with his fellow Americans.

“What a Marine Should Be”: Lt. Gen. William Keys Led Marines in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:44:00 GMT

Three V-22 Osprey aircraft roared over Arlington National Cemetery as a final salute to U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. William Keys. More than 100 people attended Keys’ funeral service on July 20, 2026. The full military funeral honors with escort service included a 15-gun salute from the Presidential Salute Battery, a Marine displaying a three-star flag, a caisson detachment, a riderless horse and a bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace.”

Hundreds Gather to Bid a Final Farewell to Cold Warrior

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 06:24:00 GMT

U.S. Army Gen. David M. Maddox was a true Cold Warrior. He entered the Army as the nation heightened its efforts in Vietnam and retired shortly after the Soviet Union dissolved. As a testament to his service, both Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher C. LaNeve attended his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, with full military funeral honors with escort, on Aug. 18, 2026.

N.C. Courage Women’s Soccer Team Pays Tribute to the Fallen at Arlington National Cemetery

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:47:00 GMT

Players and staff of the North Carolina Courage women’s professional soccer team visited Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 7, 2026, to honor the country’s fallen by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Missing U.S. Army Soldier From the “Frozen Chosin” Returned Home

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:36:00 GMT

The warm summer temperature, green grass and blue sky at Arlington National Cemetery on July 14, 2026, were a stark contrast from North Korea’s snow-covered hills east of the Chosin Reservoir — where, in December 1950, U.S. Army Sgt. DeLoren D. Dage lost his life during one of the most brutal battles in history, remembered as the Battle of the Frozen Chosin. Dage had been holding the line against numerically superior Chinese communist forces that had surrounded his unit and were trying to destroy it. The Chinese were not taking prisoners. Dage was declared missing in action on Dec. 2. He was only 20 years old.

Navy Officer Who Charted USS Thresher Wreckage Interred

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:39:00 GMT

U.S. Navy Lt. Raymond Stoetzer was completing his master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on April 10, 1963, when he learned that the USS Thresher, a nuclear submarine, had sunk about 220 miles east of Cape Cod, with all 129 men on board. It was the worst submarine disaster in U.S. Navy history. Two weeks later, Stoetzer was sent to the fleet tug USS Allegheny as part of the Navy’s crew searching for the submarine’s wreckage.

First to Fly the Blackbird: Honoring Air Force Test Pilot Capt. Robert Gilliland Sr.

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:18:00 GMT

On Dec. 22, 1964, Robert Gilliland Sr. became the first person to pilot the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird, one of the fastest crewed aircraft ever built. He would go on to test almost every SR-71 that came out of the factory, logging more test flight hours at Mach 3 than any other pilot in the world. Almost 62 years after that first flight, the high-flying pilot was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

A Commander’s Farewell and Lasting Promise to the Tomb Guards

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:53:00 GMT

On May 29, 2026, U.S. Army Commander of the Guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Capt. Sean Paul Stolarski said goodbye to his fellow Tomb Guards at Arlington National Cemetery as he prepared to leave the Army. Yet he did not see his departure as final. “I still have a vested interest in a lot of these guys,” Stolarski said, “and I plan on returning to check on them.”

Since 1948, the Tomb Guards of the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) have stood watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery 24 hours-a- day, seven days-a-week. Their vigilance and precise rituals honor the three Unknowns buried at the Tomb, as well as all unknown or unidentified American service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Arlington Lady Keeps Promise to Merchant Mariner Lost at Sea

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:45:00 GMT

On May 12, 2026, Arlington Lady Shelley Kimball stepped into an uncommon role when the family of U.S. Merchant Marine Galleyman-Utility Jose Pabon could not attend his memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC). Arlington Ladies attend funeral and memorial services to ensure that no soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman or Merchant Mariner is ever laid to rest or remembered alone. On this occasion, Kimball represented Pabon’s family.

WWII Bomber Pilot, Honored for Saving Civilian Lives, Identified and Laid to Rest

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:23:00 GMT

In 1945, nine-year-old June Laird saw U.S. Army soldiers ascending the 22 steps to her family’s home in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. They had come to deliver the news that her older brother, U.S. Army Air Forces Lt. Robert J. Barrat, had been reported killed in action over Germany. Lt. Barrat, the third eldest of six children, was only 20 years old when he died. What June did not know, at the time, was that her brother — laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on May 27, 2026 — had died as a hero, whose brave actions during World War II inspired a German town to dedicate a monument to him and his bomber crew.

Marine, Gravely Wounded in World War II, Lived to Be 100

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:39:00 GMT

On June 22, 1944, U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Vernon “Billy” Rigdon was advancing through the jungle on the Pacific island of Saipan when he and his fellow Marines encountered a group of Japanese soldiers. During the ensuing exchange of fire, an enemy bullet hit Rigdon’s left shoulder. “This felt like being hit extremely hard across the chest with a baseball bat,” he later wrote in a personal account. His rifle flew out of his hands and he hit the ground. He recalled thinking, “I’ve gotten myself into a hell of a mess.”

On the Front Lines of History: Soldier Served at Checkpoint Charlie During Height of the Cold War

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:03:00 GMT

As the military police (MP) officer in charge of Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin during the early 1960s, U.S. Army Capt. Roy Isaacson served at one of the most sensitive and strategic locations of the Cold War.

After Decades as an Unknown, World War II POW Comes Home to Arlington

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:47:00 GMT

In 2005, Sean Webb was watching “The Great Raid,” a movie about the liberation of the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines during World War II. Many Cabanatuan inmates had survived the infamous Bataan Death March, a 65-mile trek under harsh conditions to POW camps further north. Webb’s 92-year-old grandmother, Lucy Irene O’Brien, was watching the film with him when she suddenly said, “My brother Malcolm was in it” — referring to the Cabanatuan POW camp. Her brief statement stunned Sean, who did not know he had a great-uncle, much less one who had been a POW.

Air Force Colonel Flew 700 Combat Missions Over Vietnam

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:01:06 GMT

During the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force Capt. Harry Pawlak flew dangerous low-level reconnaissance missions over Vietnamese jungles in his Cessna O-1E, often within close range of enemy guns. He named his aircraft “Darlene,” after his wife. “He loved flying low and slow,” Darlene recalled. Pawlak served in the Air Force for more than 20 years, retiring as a colonel. On May 7, 2026, the decorated pilot was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

World War II Bomber Crewman Who Lost His Life in the “Forgotten Theater” Laid to Rest

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:02:00 GMT

During an air raid on the city of Meiktila, Burma (today’s Myanmar), on Aug. 3, 1943, a B-25 bomber fell out of the sky and crashed. Only two members of the six-man crew managed to bail out, but they were captured by Japanese soldiers. The rest of the crew, including Lt. Henry “Harry” J. Carlin, the bomber’s 27-year-old navigator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, went down with the aircraft. Local villagers discovered the crew’s remains and buried them in a common grave, all unidentified.

World War II Sailor Killed at Pearl Harbor “Died Too Young”

Fri, 15 May 2026 17:12:00 GMT

“He was Uncle Paul,” Rebecca Schmale said about U.S. Navy Seaman 1st Class Paul E. Newton, the uncle she never knew but whom her mother would speak about, “and when we talked about him, it was that he died too young and did not have an opportunity to experience so many things in life.”

Unknown World War II “Bataan Death March” Survivor Identified and Laid to Rest

Mon, 04 May 2026 18:29:00 GMT

“Do not worry, I am all right,” U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. James “Jimmy” Murray wrote to his fiancée, Donna Young, after the Japanese bombed Clark Field, a U.S. base in the Philippines, on Dec. 8, 1941—one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor prompted the United States to enter World War II. Young never heard from him again.

Service, Sacrifice and Sisterhood: Veterans Honor Their Own

Mon, 04 May 2026 14:38:00 GMT

More than 50 women veterans from multiple military service branches visited Arlington National Cemetery on April 14, 2026, to honor fallen friends and the Unknown Soldiers.

Cosmic Roots: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery’s Moon Tree

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:39:00 GMT

Arlington National Cemetery is home to many unique trees to explore on Arbor Day (April 24), but only one has roots in outer space. The “Moon Tree,” an American Sycamore, is a second-generation tree descendant of seeds that orbited the moon.

A Love Forged in War

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:48:00 GMT

They met on a train during World War II. Navy Lt. Griffith “Griff” Way and Lt. junior grade Patricia “Pat” O’Sullivan were both heading from Seattle, Washington, to a Japanese language school in Boulder, Colorado. His mother had given him a newspaper clipping about Pat, with a picture, and told him to look for her since they both hailed from Seattle. Their meeting on that train led them to fall in love and eventually spend the rest of their lives together. On March 31, 2026, the couple was laid to rest in a dual funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery