AMERICAN MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ASSOCIATION

Freedom

The High Cost of our Freedom is written in Blood!

With our most Solemn, Reverent Honor and Respect, We The People, owe a stern debt of gratitude to the millions of Brave Men and Women who made the most supreme sacrifice giving their Blood, in the name of Freedom and Democracy, for The United States of America, for which it Stands by, We The People.

PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE

I pledge allegiance {I promise my Loyalty} to the Flag {to the symbol that stands to represent} of The United States of America {each and every one of the 50 States, that form the United Nation of America} and to the Republic{ a Country where People choose their representative to form the Government and represent them} for which it Stands, One Nation{ The Flag that stands for one Country} under God,{ One Supreme entity for every Citizen} Indivisible, {A Country that can not be divided} with Liberty{ Complete Freedom of Life and Living being given to the Citizens} and Justice{ Fair Treatment being promised by the Law of the Land} for All. { For each and every Citizen of the Country}.

Francis Bella 1892, U.S. Congress June 22, 1942, Eisenhower 1954

Arlington National Cemetery

in Arlington County, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington.

The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and near The Pentagon. It is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system. In an area of 624 acres (2.53 km), veterans and military casualties from each of the nation’s wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the American Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were re-interred after 1900.

George Washington Parke Custis acquired the land that now is Arlington National Cemetery in 1802, and began construction of Arlington House. The estate was passed down to Custis’ only surviving child Mary Anna Custis Lee wife of Robert E. Lee, who was a West Point graduate and United States Army officer. When Fort Sumter was forced to surrender at the beginning of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Federal army. Lee demurred, because he wanted to see how Virginia would decide.

The government had acquired Arlington at tax sale in 1864 for $26,800 . Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person, but rather had sent an agent, who attempting to timely pay the $92.07 in property taxes assessed the estate. The government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment. In 1877, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather’s will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States claiming ownership of Arlington. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Lee’s favor in 1882, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process, Congress returned the estate to him. The next year Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000 at a signing ceremony with Robert Todd Lincoln, Secretary of War.

Burial Procedures

Arlington House flag flying at half-staff. The flag is lowered during interments.The flags in Arlington National Cemetery are flown at half-staff from a half hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.

Funerals, including internments and inurnments, average between 27-30 per day. The cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each year.

Military burials were previously done at the United States Soldier’s National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., but space was filling up. “The grounds about the mansion, We pray for those who lost their lives.”, Meigs wrote, “are admirably adapted to such a use.” Burials had in fact begun at Arlington before the ink was even blotted on Meigs’s proposal.

The southern portion of the land now occupied by the cemetery was used during and after the Civil War as a settlement for freed slaves. More than 1,100 freed slaves were given land at Freedman’s Village by the government, where they farmed and lived during and after the Civil War. They were turned out in 1890 when the estate was repurchased by the government and dedicated as a military installation.

President Herbert Hoover conducted the first national Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery, on May 30, 1929.

"In Honor and Memory of the Men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since 10 November 1776"

With more than 300,000 people interred there, Arlington National Cemetery has the second-largest number of people buried of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is the Calverton National Cemetery, on Long Island, near Riverhead, New York, which conducts more than 7,000 burials each year.

The cemetery is located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach (one of the landing beaches of the Normandy Invasion) and the English Channel. It covers 70 ha (172 acres), and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. Included are graves of Army Air Force crews shot down over France as early as 1942.

List of National Cemeteries

Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Elwood Illinois VA
Alabama National Cemetery Montevallo Alabama VA
Alexandria National Cemetery Pineville Louisiana VA
Alexandria National Cemetery Alexandria Virginia VA
Alton National Cemetery Alton Illinois VA
Andersonville National Cemetery Andersonville Georgia NPS
Andrew Johnson National Cemetery Greeneville Tennessee NPS
Annapolis National Cemetery Annapolis Maryland VA
Antietam National Cemetery Sharpsburg Maryland NPS
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington Virginia ARMY
Bakersfield National Cemetery Bakersfield California VA
Balls Bluff National Cemetery Leesburg Virginia VA
Baltimore National Cemetery Baltimore Maryland VA
Barrancas National Cemetery Pensacola Florida VA
Bath National Cemetery Bath New York VA
Baton Rouge National Cemetery Baton Rouge Louisiana VA
Battleground National Cemetery Washington D.C. Washington D.C. NPS
Bay Pines National Cemetery Bay Pines Florida VA
Beaufort National Cemetery Beaufort South Carolina NPS
Beverly National Cemetery Beverly New Jersey VA
Biloxi National Cemetery Bilox Mississippi VA
Black Hills National Cemetery Sturgis South Dakota VA
Calverton National Cemetery Calverton New York VA
Camp Butler National Cemetery Springfield Illinois VA
Camp Nelson National Cemetery Nicholasville Kentucky VA
Cave Hill National Cemetery Louisville Kentucky VA
Chalmette National Cemetery Chalmette Louisiana NPS
Chattanooga National Cemetery Chattanoog Tennessee VA
City Point National Cemetery Hopewell Virginia VA
Cold Harbor National Cemetery Mechanicsville Virginia VA
Corinth National Cemetery Corinth Mississippi VA
Crown Hill National Cemetery Indianapolis Indiana VA
Culpeper National Cemetery Culpeper Virginia VA
Custer National Cemetery Crow Agency Montana NPS
Cypress Hills National Cemetery Brooklyn New York VA
Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery Dallas Texas VA
Danville National Cemetery (Illinois) Danville Illinois VA
Danville National Cemetery (Kentucky) Danville Kentucky VA
Danville National Cemetery (Virginia) Danville Virginia VA
Dayton National Cemetery Dayton Ohio VA
Eagle Point National Cemetery Eagle Point Oregon VA
Fayetteville National Cemetery Fayetteville Arkansas VA
Finn’s Point National Cemetery Salem New Jersey VA
Florence National Cemetery Florence South Carolina VA
Florida National Cemetery Bushnell Florida VA
Fort Bayard National Cemetery Bayard New Mexico VA
Fort Bliss National Cemetery Fort Bliss Texas VA
Fort Custer National Cemetery Augusta Michigan VA
Fort Donelson National Cemetery Dover Tennessee NPS
Fort Gibson National Cemetery Fort Gibson Oklahoma VA
Fort Harrison National Cemetery Richmond Virginia VA
Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery Fort Leavenworth Kansas VA
Fort Logan National Cemetery Denver Colorado VA
Fort Lyon National Cemetery Las Animas Colorado VA
Fort McPherson National Cemetery Maxwell Nebraska VA
Fort Meade National Cemetery Sturgis South Dakota VA
Fort Mitchell National Cemetery Fort Mitchell Alabama VA
Fort Richardson National Cemetery Fort Richardson Alaska VA
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery San Diego California VA
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery San Antonio Texas VA
Fort Scott National Cemetery Fort Scott Kansas VA
Fort Sill National Cemetery Elgin Oklahoma VA
Fort Smith National Cemetery Fort Smith Arkansas VA
Fort Snelling National Cemetery Minneapolis Minnesota VA
Fredericksburg National Cemetery Fredericksburg Virginia NPS
Georgia National Cemetery Cherokee County Georgia VA
Gerald B. H. Solomon National Cemetery Schuylerville New York VA
Gettysburg National Cemetery Gettysburg Pennsylvania NPS
Glendale National Cemetery Richmond Virginia VA
Golden Gate National Cemetery San Bruno California VA
Grafton National Cemetery Grafton West Virginia VA
Hampton National Cemetery Hampton Virginia VA
Hampton VA National Cemetery Hampton Virginia VA
Hot Springs National Cemetery Hot Springs South Dakota VA
Houston National Cemetery Houston Texas VA
Indiantown Gap National Cemetery Annville Pennsylvania VA
Jacksonville National Cemetery Jacksonville Florida VA
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery St. Louis Missouri VA
Jefferson City National Cemetery Jefferson City Missouri VA
Keokuk National Cemetery Keokuk Iowa VA
Kerrville National Cemetery Kerrville Texas VA
Knoxville National Cemetery Knoxville Tennessee VA
Leavenworth National Cemetery Leavenworth Kansas VA
Lebanon National Cemetery Lebanon Kentucky VA
Lexington National Cemetery Lexington Kentucky VA
Little Rock National Cemetery Little Rock Arkansas VA
Long Island National Cemetery Farmingdale New York VA
Los Angeles National Cemetery Los Angeles California VA
Loudon Park National Cemetery Baltimore Maryland VA
Marietta National Cemetery Marietta Georgia VA
Marion National Cemetery Marion Indiana VA
Massachusetts National Cemetery Bourne Massachusetts VA
Memphis National Cemetery Memphis Tennessee VA
Mill Springs National Cemetery Nancy Kentucky VA
Mobile National Cemetery Mobile Alabama VA
Mound City National Cemetery Mound City Illinois VA
Mountain Home National Cemetery Mountain Home Tennessee VA
Nashville National Cemetery Madison Tennessee VA
Natchez National Cemetery Natchez Mississippi VA
National Cemetery of the Alleghenies Cecil Township Pennsylvania VA
National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona Phoenix Arizona VA
National Memorial Cemetery of Pacific Honolulu Hawaii VA
New Albany National Cemetery New Albany Indiana VA
New Bern National Cemetery New Bern North Carolina VA
Ohio Western National Cemetery Rittman Ohio VA
Philadelphia National Cemetery Philadelphia Pennsylvania VA
Poplar Grove National Cemetery Petersburg Virginia NPS
Port Hudson National Cemetery Zachary Louisiana VA
Prescott National Cemetery Prescott Arizona VA
Puerto Rico National Cemetery Bayamon Puerto Rico VA
Quantico National Cemetery Triangle Virginia VA
Quincy National Cemetery Quincy Illinois VA
Raleigh National Cemetery Raleigh North Carolina VA
Richmond National Cemetery Richmond Virginia VA
Riverside National Cemetery Riverside California VA
Rock Island National Cemetery Rock Island Illinois VA
Roseburg National Cemetery Roseburg Oregon VA
Sacramento Valley National Cemetery Dixon California VA
Salisbury National Cemetery Salisbury North Carolina VA
San Antonio National Cemetery San Antonio Texas VA
San Francisco National Cemetery San Francisco California VA
San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery Gustine California VA
Santa Fe National Cemetery Santa Fe New Mexico VA
Seven Pines National Cemetery Sandston Virginia VA
Shiloh National Cemetery Shiloh Tennessee NPS
Sitka National Cemetery Sitka Alaska VA
South Florida National Cemetery Lake Worth Florida VA
Springfield National Cemetery Springfield Missouri VA
St. Augustine National Cemetery St. Augustine Florida VA
Staunton National Cemetery Staunton Virginia VA
Stones River National Cemetery Murfreesboro Tennessee NPS
Tahoma National Cemetery Kent Washington VA
Togus National Cemetery Chelsea Maine VA
U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Cemetery Washington D.C. Washington D.C. ARMY
Vicksburg National Cemetery Vicksburg Mississippi NPS
Washington Crossing National Cemetery Newtown Pennsylvania VA
West Virginia National Cemetery Grafton West Virginia VA
Willamette National Cemetery Portland Oregon VA
Wilmington National Cemetery Wilmington North Carolina VA
Winchester National Cemetery Winchester Virginia VA
Wood National Cemetery Milwaukee Wisconsin VA
Woodlawn National Cemetery Elmira New York VA
Yorktown National Cemetery Yorktown Virginia NPS
Zachary Taylor National Cemetery Louisville Kentucky VA