Blood that speaks

Remembering Matthew Phillip Wallace and company | Mindy Belz

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Section 60 is a long way from Mary Custis Lee's rose garden where Union Army Pvt. William Christman, the first soldier to be interned at Arlington, is buried. Head south from the visitors center on tree-lined Eisenhower Drive, and never mind the map. It makes Section 60 look a block away when in fact it's several thousands of gravesites away. The walk is long and the quiet of the dead is very loud.

From behind and out of some forgotten era comes the clip-clop, clip-clop of an approaching caisson: Horses at respectful pace are pulling a flag-draped coffin atop an open wagon beneath the leafy shade.

Nearly 1,000 World War II veterans die each day in the United States, and the caisson platoon at Arlington National Cemetery is up before dawn, spending hours polishing tackle and dressing the horses. They hold an average of 30 burials a day here at perhaps the nation's most hallowed ground.