National Cemetery

WASHINGTON -- Officer Jacob J. Chestnut, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police, was buried yesterday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery, one week after he and another officer were slain at the Capitol.Chestnut, who served in Vietnam during a 20-year Air Force career, was given full military honors as he was laid to rest under a cherry tree, with his family and hundreds of police officers from around the nation looking on. For the second straight day, thousands of mourners took to the streets and highways in and around the District of Columbia to pay their respects to a slain Capitol police officer.

The caption for maps in yesterday's editions pinpointing the locations of Annapolis and Loudon Park national cemeteries incorrectly stated that they are the only two in Maryland of the 14 original national cemeteries established in 1862. There is a third -- Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg.The Sun regrets the errorsBeyond the wrought-iron gate, headstones are decaying with age, epitaphs scarcely legible. Simple words, carved in stone, are poignant: "Here lies a soldier." Endless rows of white grave markers form perfect columns on the rolling hills.

Two soldiers.Both loved their country.Both loved to fly.And 26 years ago today, in one of the last major battles of theVietnam War, both crashed and died on the same afternoon within three miles of each other. Their inscribed names nearly touch on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.Army Capt. Rodney Strobridge was 30.Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was 24.Their bodies were never recovered. Grieving family members held memorial services, but there was nothing to bury.Until now.Pentagon officials believe six bones -- four ribs, part of a pelvis and upper right arm -- buried in the Vietnam section of the Tomb the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery belong either to Strobridge or Blassie.

SHAME. SHAME. SHAME! That's what Republicans in Congress and their co-conspirators on talk radio angrily shouted at the Clinton administration last week. Why, the dastardly cads in the White House had been selling hard-to-come-by burial plots at Arlington National Cemetery -- a military shrine -- to campaign donors!Shame, indeed. But not on President Clinton or Army Secretary Togo D. West, who had done nothing wrong. The shame belongs to those very Republicans who had wrapped themselves in ersatz patriotism to whip up veterans groups against the White House.

The father of Marine Cpl. Andre D. Boone -- who will be buried with honors Monday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery -- believes that Howard County police might have been able to prevent his son's slaying.Boone, 23, was shot to death last Friday at the Columbia home of his stepfather, James Milton Harding Jr., an hour after another man called police to complain that he had been threatened by Harding.That man, Sean Mease, told police that Harding had a gun in his house. Harding, a former Maryland state trooper and a former Howard County police recruit, has been charged in Boone's slaying.

Arlington, Va. -- The mournful notes of taps and the crackle of rifle volleys were on the wind. The flag, folded into a crisp triangle, was passed to the family. Salutes were exchanged and the military honors ended.Then the Arlington Lady stepped forward. Murmuring to Regina Shinners, widow of Cmdr. John E. Shinners Sr. of Towson, she delivered a personal note and condolence cards from the chief of naval operations and the commandant of the Washington Naval District.Part comforter, part record-keeper, part referee, the Arlington Lady keeps alive a military tradition begun nearly 50 years ago -- ensuring that no one is buried alone at Arlington National Cemetery, which sees about 100 funerals each week.

50 Years Ago* Provision for a new 50,000-grave national cemetery in Annapolis is made in a recent study prepared by the Army. Last Jan. 1, 2,613 war veterans were buried in the present Annapolis National Cemetery with only 46 grave sites available. -- The Sun, April 4, 1945.* A new real estate boom has started in war-crowded Annapolis as retired naval officers, recalled for service at the start of the war, will soon be retired again and want to live in retirement near the U.S. Naval Academy.

From out of the White House and across snow-covered official Washington last night, you could almost hear the dulcet voice of Bob Sheppard, the Yankees' legendary public-address announcer:"Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen. Now coming to bat in the baseball strike, num-buh one, Bill Clinton, num-buh one."True to his word, the nation's No. 1 fan has thrust himself into the dispute in the absence of a hint of compromise between the equally greedy players and owners. It was indeed a neat double play President Clinton attempted to pull off yesterday, calling as he did for the baseball Bickersons to end their 180-day dispute and the Republican-led Congress to embrace his $1.61-trillion national budget.

"My dear wife: I have to-day worshipped at the shrine of the dead. I went over to the Arlington Cemetery. . . . My friends and comrades, poor fellows, who followed my enthusiastic leadership those days, and followed it to the death . . . lie here, twenty-four of them. ... I found every grave and stood over it with uncovered head. I looked over nearly 16,000 head-boards to find the twenty-four, but they all died alike and I was determined to find them all. ..." --Rufus R. Dawes, commanding officer, Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers, 1881.

Katharine B. Edwards, who helped families as a volunteer at Arlington National Cemetery, died Dec. 3 at St. Joseph Hospital after suffering a heart attack at her Cockeysville home.Mrs. Edwards, who was 94, had long been a resident of Arlington, Va., before joining her daughter in Cockeysville four years ago.She was one of the original Arlington Ladies, a group that attends funerals at the cemetery either to assist the families or to stand in for those unable to attend.She also did volunteer work at Air Force post chapels and in service organizations.