Author to give presentation on cemetery at museum

Every tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery tells a story.

Author Robert M. Poole, in his book, "On Hallowed Ground," will share many of those stories during an author's presentation and book signing at the Manassas Museum honoring veterans on Sunday at 2 p.m.

From Pvt. William Christman, the first soldier buried at Arlington in 1864, to Union Gen. Montgomery Meigs, who had the idea of Arlington; from Lt. Thomas Selfridge, the first casualty of powered flight; to Audie Murphy, America's most decorated soldier; from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, so lovingly tended today; to John F. Kennedy's eternal flame; from scientists and slaves to jurists and generals, Poole writes about the personal sagas of more than 300,000 ordinary citizen-warriors interred on Arlington's 62 acres.

Poole also captures the rituals and rites—such as horse-drawn caissons, marble headstones, the playing of taps and rifle salutes-that have evolved at Arlington. In his intimate, behind-the-scenes picture of the history and day-to-day operations of Arlington, America's most sacred ground, Poole also emphasizes that no other country makes the effort the United States does to recover and pay tribute to its war dead.

Poole, former executive editor of National Geographic, is the author of Explorers House. He is a contributing editor at Smithsonian and has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Preservation. He lives in McLean.

The museum will offer free admission to all active-duty and retired military personnel on the day of the Manassas Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, for Poole's presentation and on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The author's presentation is included with admission for all other visitors. The book is available for signing and purchase at Echoes, the Manassas Museum store.

For more information, call 703-368-1873.

—Bennie Scarton Jr.