A different sort of archive

Archiving mementos at Section 60: Curators collect items left at Arlington cemetery

Without a national memorial to the more than 5,300 service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, Section 60 has become its own community of remembrance. Thousands of mementos left at their graves stand testament to the grief of loved ones.

Crown Royal whiskey bottles, war medals, birth announcements, wedding photos, Christmas ornaments, GI Joe action figures, painted rocks, church bulletins, a fishing lure, even a rubber duck are among the items left at the graves of the more than 600 from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are buried at Arlington.

Families gather for birthday parties for the fallen, leaving behind cupcakes and balloons. War orphans drop off handmade valentines. Twenty-somethings with crewcuts and military boots smoke a cigar and set an empty beer bottle next to a buddy's white grave marker.

Arlington is a working cemetery, not a museum, not a memorial. For years items left at the cemetery were thrown away in an effort to keep it clean and presentable. But last fall a request was made to begin to collect items left at the gravesides. Every Thursday, military curators gather non-perishable items, photograph them, and then bag them up and take them with them. They're intentionally not accessessioning them, to prevent them from becoming specifically military property, but they are saving them until a next step can be determined. Someday, I'm sure, there will be a memorial to those who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan, but until that time, curators are preserving history for us. Kudos to them, and to their effort. As one of the women interviewed for the article (who found out she was pregnant a few day after husband's death) said:

When they see a card left from a 2-year-old or a balloon left welcoming a son that they never met, I think that makes more of an impact. It makes Americans a little bit more thankful or appreciative.

She's right. A tangible item puts things into perspective, breathes life into names and numbers, and remind us of the personalities lost and left behind. I hope this pilot project continues.