EUROPA NEWSWIRE.
Photo by Steven Shepard.
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near his brothers, Defense Department officials said today.
Kennedy, who died yesterday after a long battle with brain cancer, is eligible for in-ground interment, officials said.
"He served in the Army, and he was an elected official of the U.S. government," an official said, speaking on background. "No [eligibility] waiver was needed."
Kennedy served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He will be buried near
the grave of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in
1968. That site is just up the hill from the grave of his brother,
President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete. The Kennedy family had contacted
Arlington National Cemetery officials about arrangements for the
77-year-old senator, officials said.
Arlington National Cemetery is located across the Potomac River from
Washington. It is the site of the Tomb of the Unknowns and the burial
spot for more than 300,000 people. It was established in 1864 on land
once owned by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Service members representing all of America's wars rest at Arlington.
Those from pre-Civil War conflicts were reinterred there in 1900. The
cemetery also is the resting place for fallen servicemembers from the
conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Source: Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs.
Story by Jim Garamone.
