Today
As of 2007, the cemetery has 13,486 interments (up from 13,321 interments in 2004), and is currently closed to new interments. However, space may be available in the same grave site for eligible family members. It is administered by the National Cemetery Administration, a part of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
The cemetery is the burial site of two Medal of Honor recipients, Sergeant Willie Sandlin (World War I), United States Army, and Sergeant John C. Squires (World War II), United States Army.
Members of the Taylor family are buried in an area now at the back of the national cemetery. Zachary Taylor was originally buried in a tomb, but was later placed in the marble mausoleum in 1926; both still stand to this day. Also buried in the area of the original Taylor family cemetery are W.G.L. Taylor, who was a captain for the Confederate States of America, and other family members, including the president's parents. Soldiers from Fort Knox engage in a wreath-laying ceremony every November 24, which marks Zachary Taylor's birthday.
Read more about this topic: Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“But today I set the bed afire
and smoke is filling the room,
it is getting hot enough for the walls to melt,
and the icebox, a gluey white tooth.
I have on a mask in order to write my last words,
and they are just for you....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“That we can come here today and in the presence of thousands and tens of thousands of the survivors of the gallant army of Northern Virginia and their descendants, establish such an enduring monument by their hospitable welcome and acclaim, is conclusive proof of the uniting of the sections, and a universal confession that all that was done was well done, that the battle had to be fought, that the sections had to be tried, but that in the end, the result has inured to the common benefit of all.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“We do not know today whether we are busy or idle. In times when we thought ourselves indolent, we have afterwards discovered, that much was accomplished, and much was begun in us.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)