Silent Moments
Throughout the years I have work for ANC, the silent, fleeting moments have been the most rewarding to capture. There is a lot that happens at ANC that only lasts for a moment but mean more to its mission than any of the bigger and bolder events. These are some of those moments.
(All imagery on this page is in the public domain and taken while Elizabeth Fraser worked as a contractor at Arlington National Cemetery.)
A soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) holds up a U.S. flag during Flags-In at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 23, 2019. For more than 55 years, soldiers from The Old Guard have honored our nation’s fallen heroes by placing U.S. flags at gravesites of service members buried at both Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery just prior to the Memorial Day weekend. Within four hours, over 1,000 soldiers place 245,000 flags in front of every headstone and Columbarium and niche wall column. A tornado warning briefly delayed the placement of flags this year, uprooting over 20 trees within the cemetery. All flags were still placed.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, family members visit gravesites of loved ones in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 24, 2020.
A representatives from a Veterans Service Organization listens to Vice President Mike Pence speak during the Veterans Day observance at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Nov. 11, 2017.
Spc. Colin Martin, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (Old Guard), gives a kiss to Hank, an 11 years old Caisson Platoon horse, before conducting funeral training at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 6, 2018.
U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Kerri Ayo comforts Navy Chief Petty Officer Amber Devries at her service brother, Chief Yeoman John Mills, Jr.'s, grave in Section 60 during the Wreaths Across America Event at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Dec. 16, 2017.
Sailors for the U.S. Navy Honor Guard take shelter in the baggage compartment of a Navy bus when a thunderstorm delayed a visit by Prime Minister of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 2, 2019.
Visitors attend the National Veterans Day Observation in the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Nov. 11, 2019. Vice President Mike Pence with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and spoke to the crowd in the Memorial Amphitheater as part of the observance.
Members of the U.S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own", support the Presidential Armed Forces Full Honors Wreath-Laying Ceremony conducted by President Donald J. Trump in observance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 28, 2018. This was the 150th Memorial Day wreath-laying and observance ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
A sentinel from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) walks the mat during a rain storm at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, July 8, 2021.
Service members supporting the State and Territorial Cordon prepare to march into the Memorial Amphitheater as part of the National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 31, 2021.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Matthew Hackett, Marine Barracks Washington, puts his gloves back on after shaking hands with Sherry Jennings, spouse of U.S.Marine Sgt. Julian Kevianne, at the conclusion of the gravesite service for Kevianne in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Aug. 3, 2017. Kevianne perished in a KC-130T Hercules crash in Mississippi July 10, 2017.
Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery conduct a blank fire crew drill early in the morning next to Section 37 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, August 7, 2018.
Members of the Taotao Tano’ Cultural Dancers of Guam stand on the West Steps of the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, July 16, 2019. The dancers were at ANC to attend an Army Full Honors Wreath-Laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Guam, the Battle for the Northern Mariana Islands, and the War in the Pacific.
Sergeant of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Blake Gibson changes into his ceremonial uniform with the help of another Tomb Guard in the Tomb Guard Quarters at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 28, 2018. Gibson assisted President Donald J. Trump lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as part of the Memorial Day Observance at ANC.
Volunteers pick up flowers to lay at headstones from the Memorial Flower Foundation next to McClellan Gate in Section 33 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 27, 2018. Every year over Memorial Day weekend, over 135,000 visitors come to Arlington National Cemetery to honor who have died while in the armed forces.
A doe and her fawn roam through a section of the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, Washington, D.C., June 11, 2019. The cemetery is one of two national cemeteries maintained by the Department of the Army, the other being Arlington National Cemetery.
Dan Frye, electrician, Facilities Maintenance, hangs U.S. flags at the Memorial Amphitheater in advance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 15, 2020.