My Father, Lt. Col. Mitchell M. Mickel, USAF Retired - on the 10 Year Anniversary of His Burial
By Denise Mickel Russell
Recently I saw an article on the news about Arlington National Cemetery running out of space. Hearing this took me back to ten years ago to March 25, 2008 when my family and I travelled to Arlington to bury my father. I didn’t know what to expect that day as I had never been to Arlington for a funeral. Little did I know how well thought out the services are, how the staff takes such good care of family members, how respectful they were toward my father at such a beautiful military service and how this place was so majestic.
In his 80s, my father suffered from dementia. One thing he was able to do before he passed away was to write his own obituary. I read it before he had passed away and I thought for this man who had a long military career, he kept it very simple. Part of what he wrote said that he passed away at 85 years old and that he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. After reading this, I immediately began to research what it takes to be buried there so that I could honor my father’s wish. I read the booklet that was provided, gathered up his military records for proof of service and became prepared in every way I could before his passing to make things easier for my mother.
When he passed away in January 2008 at the age of 85, the local funeral home made all the final arrangements with Arlington National Cemetery on our behalf. A date for burial needed to be selected and we choose the date of his birthday, March 25. My father received a full military honors funeral. The majesty of the service from the horses, to the music the band played, to the 21-gun salute is really something to see and is not easily forgotten. My cousin, Sherry Mickel Parrish, who attended the funeral asked if I was okay with her taking pictures and I told her that I was fine with it. To this day when I look back at the pictures, I’m still amazed at the shots she took.
My father’s final resting place is the most perfect place in the cemetery for him. He had a long military career of 26 years in the Air Force where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in three wars: World War II when he was in the Army at Anzio, Italy, and received a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics at West Virginia University and later attended Georgetown University in DC where he often went to the Pentagon for meetings and assignments. Nestled in Section 64 of Arlington National Cemetery, my father’s site overlooks the Pentagon and to the other side, the tall spires of the Air Force Monument can be seen towering over the cemetery.
Much has changed in the ten years since I first went to Arlington National Cemetery to bury my father. My mother joined him there in 2010. She didn’t want to be buried there at first, but after my father’s funeral, she changed her mind and she knew that this was the right place for her. Her service was just as majestic as his was. The clergy really brought it home for me about what my mom as a military wife gave up in her life in order to support my dad’s military career. I remember in the 1960s growing up without my dad being around because he spent years in Korea. Then in 2011, my Aunt Nadine and Uncle Alexander Mickel, my dad’s brother, were buried together at the Columbarium which is right across the road from Section 64.
Over the last ten years my visits have seen change at the cemetery. My family often finds that the cemetery becomes a meeting place for cousins to place flowers and take pictures of this majestic place. My cousin Sandy Mickel Ruder’s husband, Kim, buried his father in Arlington. When we make the stop to visit the cemetery we visit with him too and we always check to make sure that the golf balls buried near his headstone by his grandchildren are still there.
New sections have opened up in the cemetery and were prepared for new funerals. Multiple funerals take place six days a week at Arlington, an average of 25 burials per day. It is a busy place with over three million tourists passing through the cemetery each year. And while it is true that the empty spaces in Arlington National Cemetery are filling up and eventually they will run out of space, it just becomes more peaceful each time I visit. A place to reflect and to remember that our loved ones are never far from our thoughts.
Interesting facts about Arlington National Cemetery (excerpt from weta.org):
By Denise Mickel Russell
Recently I saw an article on the news about Arlington National Cemetery running out of space. Hearing this took me back to ten years ago to March 25, 2008 when my family and I travelled to Arlington to bury my father. I didn’t know what to expect that day as I had never been to Arlington for a funeral. Little did I know how well thought out the services are, how the staff takes such good care of family members, how respectful they were toward my father at such a beautiful military service and how this place was so majestic.
In his 80s, my father suffered from dementia. One thing he was able to do before he passed away was to write his own obituary. I read it before he had passed away and I thought for this man who had a long military career, he kept it very simple. Part of what he wrote said that he passed away at 85 years old and that he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. After reading this, I immediately began to research what it takes to be buried there so that I could honor my father’s wish. I read the booklet that was provided, gathered up his military records for proof of service and became prepared in every way I could before his passing to make things easier for my mother.
When he passed away in January 2008 at the age of 85, the local funeral home made all the final arrangements with Arlington National Cemetery on our behalf. A date for burial needed to be selected and we choose the date of his birthday, March 25. My father received a full military honors funeral. The majesty of the service from the horses, to the music the band played, to the 21-gun salute is really something to see and is not easily forgotten. My cousin, Sherry Mickel Parrish, who attended the funeral asked if I was okay with her taking pictures and I told her that I was fine with it. To this day when I look back at the pictures, I’m still amazed at the shots she took.
My father’s final resting place is the most perfect place in the cemetery for him. He had a long military career of 26 years in the Air Force where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in three wars: World War II when he was in the Army at Anzio, Italy, and received a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics at West Virginia University and later attended Georgetown University in DC where he often went to the Pentagon for meetings and assignments. Nestled in Section 64 of Arlington National Cemetery, my father’s site overlooks the Pentagon and to the other side, the tall spires of the Air Force Monument can be seen towering over the cemetery.
Much has changed in the ten years since I first went to Arlington National Cemetery to bury my father. My mother joined him there in 2010. She didn’t want to be buried there at first, but after my father’s funeral, she changed her mind and she knew that this was the right place for her. Her service was just as majestic as his was. The clergy really brought it home for me about what my mom as a military wife gave up in her life in order to support my dad’s military career. I remember in the 1960s growing up without my dad being around because he spent years in Korea. Then in 2011, my Aunt Nadine and Uncle Alexander Mickel, my dad’s brother, were buried together at the Columbarium which is right across the road from Section 64.
Over the last ten years my visits have seen change at the cemetery. My family often finds that the cemetery becomes a meeting place for cousins to place flowers and take pictures of this majestic place. My cousin Sandy Mickel Ruder’s husband, Kim, buried his father in Arlington. When we make the stop to visit the cemetery we visit with him too and we always check to make sure that the golf balls buried near his headstone by his grandchildren are still there.
New sections have opened up in the cemetery and were prepared for new funerals. Multiple funerals take place six days a week at Arlington, an average of 25 burials per day. It is a busy place with over three million tourists passing through the cemetery each year. And while it is true that the empty spaces in Arlington National Cemetery are filling up and eventually they will run out of space, it just becomes more peaceful each time I visit. A place to reflect and to remember that our loved ones are never far from our thoughts.
Interesting facts about Arlington National Cemetery (excerpt from weta.org):
- Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place of over 400,000 men and women.
- An average of 25 burials are performed each day.
- Arlington National Cemetery covers 624 acres of land.
- More than three million tourists pass through the cemetery each year.
- There are about 8,500 trees at Arlington National Cemetery, in 300 different varieties.
- Two state champion trees reside in the cemetery, signifying that they are the largest trees of their species in Virginia.
- Every gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery has been photographed and documented, and can be located using the cemetery’s web-based application, ANC Explorer: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Map/ANCExplorer.aspx
- The first military burial occurred at Arlington National Cemetery in 1864, for Private William Christman.
- Those eligible to be buried at Arlington include active duty military and retired reservists, recipients of the military’s highest honors, and former POWs.
- Each year for Memorial Day, a flag is placed by every tombstone, monument, and columbarium row in the cemetery. Volunteers continue this practice during the holiday season with wreaths instead of flags.
- The Tomb of the Unknowns is guarded 24/7 by the best, most qualified members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as The Old Guard. Formed in 1784, The Old Guard is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the Army.
- U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery include John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft.
- The Kennedy gravesite is the final resting place not only of the former president, but also his wife Jackie Kennedy, his two brothers Robert and Edward Kennedy, as well as a memorial to his brother Joe Jr.
- The son and grandson of Abraham Lincoln are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- There are almost 4,000 former slaves buried in Section 27, land that used to be known as Freedman’s Village, Arlington’s first free neighborhood.
- Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, is linked to two significant figures of American history: it was built by the step-grandson of George Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, and eventually passed on to General Robert E. Lee by marriage to Parke Custis’s daughter, Mary.
