M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Lest We Forget, Lest We Forget
A Photographic Essay Remembering Sept 11
by Scot Facer Proctor

Part 1, Afghanistan

One of my favorite places in the nation is Arlington National Cemetery. I love that our nation watches over her dead. I love that we have a guard who marches back and forth in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier all day long every day of the year. There is something to be said about a people who keep vigil over those who fought to keep her free.

I have been coming to this magnificent cemetery for a generation. I have watched as new sections of land have been opened for more of our nation’s heroes. I have been here in every season, but this time, this visit just a few days ago was different. I felt like I knew some of the people who were buried here. I feel like you will know them too.

My visit was greatly enhanced by an escort from the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Army District of Washington. I saw places and scenes I had never seen before. What’s most important is that I can now take you there with me through this emotional photographic essay. Here we will see the last resting place of some of the victims of September 11. Here we will see the first casualty of the war in Afghanistan, the grave of Johnny Micheal Spann. Here we will see the grave of the first man ever buried in Arlington, Wm. Christman. Won’t you come with me (as we have gone together to Palmyra and Israel and to Nauvoo)? My prayer is that this essay will move you as much as this visit moved me.

My heart was moved as I looked upon this stone marking the grave of Matthew Commons, one of the casualties of the war in Afghanistan. As I was photographing this stone, men of duty were getting ready for another funeral that would take place in about 30 minutes. What price freedom?

The temporary grave marker for Jason D. Cunningham was poignant to me. Fresh flowers surrounded this Air Force man, also killed in Afghanistan. As I knelt down to take this picture I felt that my knees had impressed upon holy ground. I felt to salute, to whisper ‘thank you’ for saving liberty.

This symbol caught my eye especially---the Angel Moroni with the trump. I could not photograph then publish just any stone at Arlington. For some, permission from family members is required. This one was the wife of a veteran of war and clearly a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Provincially I was told years ago that there were only three officially approved symbols for the gravestones in Arlington National Cemetery, namely, the Cross, the Star of David and the Angel Moroni. I was misinformed. There are 28 official symbols approved for the burial of our nation’s heroes, including a symbol for atheists. I asked my guide, who has worked for three years with the cemetery, if she had ever seen that symbol. She said, “You know, I never have.”

You all remember when President Hinckley announced in October conference that missile strikes had just begun upon Afghanistan. It was a sober moment. Just as sober for me was when reports came back that the first American was killed in action there, Johnny Micheal Spann, member of the CIA. Here his remains are buried.

Johnny Micheal Spann’s grave is seemingly obscure among the thousands of others around it, but remembered because we choose to remember him and the others who lay down their lives that we might live in freedom.

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.