Standing outside the Custis-Lee Mansion on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery before the start of this year’s Renewal & Remembrance event, I didn’t realize how undulating the cemetery’s 624 acres are. From this vantage point, once the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, only a fraction of the 300,000 grave sites that fill the cemetery are visible.
But as we walked up a hill to another section of Arlington National to begin our day’s work, our perspective broadened, and we could see thousands of additional white tombstones dotting the green landscape. Later, as we moved to the area where JFK is buried, and then through another valley and up another hill to the Tomb of the Unknown, there were more graves. So many graves.
As I looked across the grounds, the sounds of men and women at work Ken Kloppblending with a respectful quiet, I felt small and humbled. I think it’s probably impossible to be part of PLANET’s Renewal & Remembrance and not be overcome with emotion. Deep sorrow mixes with equal parts pride, patriotism and thankfulness in this most reverent of places.
We had been spreading limestone over parts of the cemetery for about an hour when we heard the sounds of the day’s first funeral procession approaching. First the band members; then the caisson team of seven white horses, and then a horse-drawn carriage holding a casket draped with an American flag. I later learned that more than 20 such processions happen each day.
Under the shade of giant oak trees, we stopped our work and removed our caps as the procession moved past and on to the grave of yet another American hero. As it did, I looked into the first car that followed the caisson team and my eyes met those of a woman whose expression made me think she was a recent widow. In unison, two strangers nodded: a woman whose husband had given everything he had, including a life with this woman; and a man spreading limestone, simply giving a day’s work.
Again, I felt small, but also part of something that was much bigger than me. Here were 500 volunteers from throughout the green industry. Chemical and fertilizer formulators, distributors, irrigation and landscape contractors, many of us competitors on any day other than this one. But on this day, we were one. Part of an industry that thinks it’s important to take a day each year to lend its knowledge and muscle to maintain the pristine beauty of this national treasure.
I imagined that the woman probably had children, although I couldn’t see any inside the car. And I thought of my own two kids, who at that moment were visiting with their mom in another part of the cemetery, happily planting flowers and watching innocently as a color guard laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
When our work was done and I was reunited with my family, I asked my wife if she thought our youngest, 5-year-old Kenny, understood why we had come to Washington for this event and what made Arlington National Cemetery so special.
“I think so,” she said. “You know how he’s always saying that he wants to be a superhero when he grows up? He just told me that he’s changed his mind. Now he wants to be either a superhero or a soldier.”
After the 14th annual Renewal & Remembrance event, I’m now convinced those professions are one and the same.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Klopp, LebanonTurf’s national account manager for lawn care, was among more than 400 members of the green industry who spent July 19 helping maintain the grounds at Arlington National Cemetery as part of the 14th annual Renewal & Remembrance event conducted by the Professional Landcare Network. Many of the landscape and lawn care professionals also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill on July 20 to discuss issues facing the industry.