Episode 11
Movie Stars in Arlington National Cemetery (Part 1)
🎙️
Arlington National Cemetery has so much history and so many stories to tell...we have visited multiple times, with two YouTube videos, and we still have only scratched the surface.
While there, we decided to visit the gravesites of presidents, movie stars, world-famous athletes, and people who impacted Jenn's life and helped inspire her military service.
🚕 Google Map to Arlington National Cemetery
Visit Arlington National Cemetery: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I am your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello
Speaker:on this podcast we talk about history's
Speaker:continuing impact on us and our personal
Speaker:journey through YouTube as we continue
Speaker:to explore record and share our history
Speaker:walks with you
Speaker:but now before we get into our main
Speaker:topic today Jan I want to lead off with
Speaker:our some of our five star reviews of the
Speaker:week
Speaker:so we did get a couple of five star
Speaker:reviews now folks listening may not
Speaker:realize this but it's been probably
Speaker:about a month we took about a month off
Speaker:around Thanksgiving yeah I think it's
Speaker:appropriate with doing this video too on
Speaker:this subject because I don't know if
Speaker:people realize that you are active duty
Speaker:military
Speaker:and I was that's how we met and so we
Speaker:moved very often and because of that
Speaker:movement when holidays come around
Speaker:sometimes it's really just inclusive of
Speaker:us to make the holidays happen for our
Speaker:family
Speaker:so we have to sometimes take a break
Speaker:to make sure that uh you know things at
Speaker:home are being taken care of like a
Speaker:Thanksgiving holiday for yeah absolutely
Speaker:so so the holidays get busy for us with
Speaker:uh being being military but in that
Speaker:month we got two five-star reviews uh
Speaker:one from someone I've known since I was
Speaker:very young and one from someone I
Speaker:believe that we've met most recently so
Speaker:the the first five star review is from
Speaker:patty1835. she said about the Halloween
Speaker:episode she said so fun and interesting
Speaker:maybe next Halloween you can do an
Speaker:episode on the famous radio broadcast of
Speaker:the War of the Worlds which I think
Speaker:would be a very interesting topic yes
Speaker:that show was so realistic and it cost
Speaker:mass panic you have an alien invasion
Speaker:which I believe was part of why it's
Speaker:it's so Infamous the second five star
Speaker:review is from Doug
Speaker:mcel52 I believe we know who this is and
Speaker:it was about the I Love Lucy episode he
Speaker:said I Love Lucy too thank you for
Speaker:another insightful episode I learned so
Speaker:much about Lucy and Desi that I did not
Speaker:know so thank you to those who are
Speaker:leaving reviews we encourage anybody
Speaker:else listening to if you have an apple
Speaker:podcast uh the Apple podcast app leave
Speaker:us a five-star review in there if not
Speaker:you can reach out to us other other
Speaker:places
Speaker:um and also don't forget to check out
Speaker:our other podcast the history Buzz
Speaker:where we interview folks while chatting
Speaker:about history over a couple of drinks
Speaker:and we let the conversation wander where
Speaker:it may
Speaker:thank you
Speaker:now there are a lot of cemeteries with
Speaker:famous people buried in them and we've
Speaker:covered a small portion of them
Speaker:and we've discovered that there's so
Speaker:much history and a lifetime of stories
Speaker:to be told but
Speaker:I will venture to say that none of these
Speaker:sacred places hold the Common Ground
Speaker:among all Americans that Arlington
Speaker:National Cemetery does
Speaker:for our walk with history YouTube
Speaker:subscribers this video really needs no
Speaker:introduction as it's our most popular
Speaker:video and as of recording this podcast
Speaker:it has around 53 000 views so Jen why
Speaker:don't you tell any of our listeners who
Speaker:haven't seen this video yet how
Speaker:Arlington came about for us
Speaker:so this video is on Arlington National
Speaker:Cemetery and for us it was just really
Speaker:important for me
Speaker:to do this video because it all started
Speaker:with Maureen O'Hara
Speaker:I was wanting to see what her grave
Speaker:looked like and I knew she was buried in
Speaker:Arlington because she had been married
Speaker:to a brigadier general in the Air Force
Speaker:and I had looked on YouTube to see if
Speaker:anyone had been to her grave and no one
Speaker:had been to her grave yeah and and for
Speaker:the for the audience too if you step
Speaker:back if you've listened to some of our
Speaker:past episodes this may have come up but
Speaker:Jen likes Maureen O'Hara the old movie I
Speaker:like Classic Movies she loves the
Speaker:classic movies but largely because of
Speaker:John Wayne yes I'm a big John Wayne fan
Speaker:Jan you were a huge John Wayne fan
Speaker:largely influenced by your father and
Speaker:you know John Wayne is John Wayne almost
Speaker:everybody knows John yes not as many
Speaker:people know Maureen O'Hara that at least
Speaker:not I would I'll say in my generation
Speaker:sure but if you're a huge John Wayne fan
Speaker:yeah Maureen O'Hara actually did quite a
Speaker:few movies with him yeah she was I mean
Speaker:he was her favorite co-star she says
Speaker:like and he loved working with her as
Speaker:well
Speaker:um made lots of movies with John Ford
Speaker:and they're known for that famous movie
Speaker:The Quiet Man together
Speaker:um most people remember Maureen O'Hara
Speaker:from Miracle on 34th Street she plays
Speaker:the mother she's also in The Parent Trap
Speaker:the original
Speaker:and she's in that as well so most people
Speaker:will remember her if they don't know her
Speaker:within the John Wayne so so that's
Speaker:really where the Genesis of yeah hey
Speaker:we're we're near yes we were going to be
Speaker:in DC yes we were going to visit family
Speaker:yes and so we brought we we made a point
Speaker:to say let's do a day in Arlington
Speaker:and we thought oh we'll get this done
Speaker:with the family it'll be so easy we'll
Speaker:get in there
Speaker:six or six other people yeah am i
Speaker:counting that right no five six yeah
Speaker:with us five of us so eleven six others
Speaker:so eleven all together right and no
Speaker:first of all what you need to know about
Speaker:Arlington is um you can't drive in
Speaker:Arlington you can take the tram you can
Speaker:pay the ticket the money to take the
Speaker:tram and the tram has a very
Speaker:um
Speaker:localized route it'll take you to the
Speaker:Tomb of the Unknown it'll take you
Speaker:around some more famous Graves but it's
Speaker:not going to go off Route and so if you
Speaker:want to I mean Arlington is
Speaker:639 Acres there's 400 000 people buried
Speaker:there so if you want to like see
Speaker:something in particular like us you've
Speaker:got to get ready to do some walking you
Speaker:have to be ready ahead of time and
Speaker:that's the one thing right and holding
Speaker:true to to what we're trying to do on
Speaker:this podcast of talking a little bit
Speaker:about behind the scenes right we're
Speaker:doing this with our family yes you know
Speaker:visiting we're kind of making the
Speaker:YouTube channel work at the same time as
Speaker:trying to carry out life yes we were
Speaker:like oh yeah we'll be fine doing it with
Speaker:the whole family and and we've we come
Speaker:to find out like man this place is
Speaker:massive we gotta take trams you know
Speaker:we've got kids and your mom and US
Speaker:walking around and figuring all this
Speaker:stuff out so we decided we did like one
Speaker:or two graves and then we said let's
Speaker:just do this you and I well my mom had
Speaker:offered to watch the kids for us the day
Speaker:we said let's we'll come back to
Speaker:Arlington and we'll do it so what was
Speaker:the first what's the first grave we're
Speaker:going to talk about uh well I want to
Speaker:give a little background about Arlington
Speaker:first and then get more into the graves
Speaker:we're going to talk about but um this
Speaker:first video was very important on people
Speaker:who were influencing that I thought were
Speaker:big movie influencers and who influenced
Speaker:me in my military career so that's kind
Speaker:of the twofold of what it is but I also
Speaker:give some history on Arlington because
Speaker:sometimes people don't know the whole
Speaker:story and so Arlington Cemetery
Speaker:was really Robert E Lee's home before
Speaker:the Civil War he had married Marianne
Speaker:custis Lee who was the great
Speaker:granddaughter of Martha Washington with
Speaker:her first husband Daniel custis and when
Speaker:she marries George Washington he
Speaker:basically adopts her children and
Speaker:then of course his he he adopts her
Speaker:children and then they inherit his land
Speaker:he his grandson has the money to buy
Speaker:Arlington build Arlington then leaves it
Speaker:to his daughter and that's just so
Speaker:George Washington's grandson yes okay
Speaker:and that's who he leaves it to his
Speaker:daughter who's Marianne custis who
Speaker:marries Robert E Lee
Speaker:so that's kind of how this all starts
Speaker:right and so then
Speaker:the Civil War happens and he leaves
Speaker:right away he lives in uh 1961 in in May
Speaker:and she's told pretty quickly that the
Speaker:union is going to come and start taking
Speaker:property
Speaker:outside of DC just to occupy it at this
Speaker:time it's not even thinking of a
Speaker:cemetery so she buries a lot of her
Speaker:possessions in the yard
Speaker:and takes a lot of her possessions with
Speaker:her and then within a month the troops
Speaker:the union troops have taken Arlington by
Speaker:May 24th
Speaker:so
Speaker:it's on May 14th that one of her
Speaker:enslaved women women
Speaker:um Selena Gray
Speaker:takes a lot of things that are of George
Speaker:Washington's possessions and one of them
Speaker:is the tent and we talk about the 10th
Speaker:that's at the Revolutionary War Museum
Speaker:we have that because of Selena gray so
Speaker:she had some forethought to save a lot
Speaker:of heirlooms and that we we have heard a
Speaker:thing for that
Speaker:so then what happens is there's a army
Speaker:quartermaster named Megs who goes to
Speaker:school with Lee and he joins the union
Speaker:and he's so mad that Lee has gone with
Speaker:the Confederacy that he's put in charge
Speaker:of finding land for federal cemeteries
Speaker:because
Speaker:by this time in the war it's been three
Speaker:years they don't they didn't think it
Speaker:was going to go on for this long they
Speaker:basically have started filling up all
Speaker:the federal cemeteries in D.C with Civil
Speaker:War dead
Speaker:so this is 1964. this is three years
Speaker:later and he's like Arlington is prime
Speaker:location
Speaker:he's gonna Stick it to his old buddy
Speaker:yeah he's like really mad and I'll tell
Speaker:you why how he does it too he buries the
Speaker:first body in the garden because he
Speaker:knows that that's where Marianne custis
Speaker:Lee's favorite spot is so the first
Speaker:person buried in Arlington is William
Speaker:Henry Cushman and he's 19 years old he
Speaker:dies in the measles and we've talked
Speaker:about this before that most people in
Speaker:the civil war will die from disease and
Speaker:he buries him right in the garden man
Speaker:that's like this so that was such an
Speaker:interesting fact to me of like this
Speaker:here's this guy who's holding The Grudge
Speaker:again someone that like he knew for a
Speaker:long time right respected respected and
Speaker:all that stuff and it was so mad that he
Speaker:joined the other side he's like okay
Speaker:this is this is my way to get to get
Speaker:back at him I don't want you coming back
Speaker:here I don't think you deserve this I
Speaker:don't think you deserve to be in this
Speaker:country and so much so that I'm gonna
Speaker:make it so
Speaker:your favorite spots will be taken over
Speaker:I'm gonna start bearing bodies in your
Speaker:yard yep and that's basically what
Speaker:happened so that's how Arlington becomes
Speaker:a National Cemetery
Speaker:so just to give some backgrounds just so
Speaker:people understand where where the word
Speaker:Arlington comes from it's it's actually
Speaker:um why is there a house in Arlington
Speaker:National City right yeah it looks like a
Speaker:big home it's called Arlington House yes
Speaker:that's where they lived yes it was it
Speaker:was
Speaker:um Mary Ann custis Lee's father who
Speaker:builds the home uh names it for
Speaker:Arlington glassdier England because
Speaker:that's where their ancestral family is
Speaker:from yeah and if you've never been to
Speaker:Arlington National Cemetery if you get
Speaker:up to Arlington House which is I think
Speaker:the highest point yeah you can look down
Speaker:Cemetery you can see the Washington
Speaker:Monument you can see all over DC I mean
Speaker:it's a it's a you talk about prime
Speaker:location it's a beautiful view it's a
Speaker:beautiful spot
Speaker:um and not only because of the nowadays
Speaker:setting but you can see the mall you can
Speaker:see all that stuff so it's it's pretty
Speaker:neat being there yeah so
Speaker:so that's why
Speaker:um
Speaker:Arlington National Cemetery has become
Speaker:it became a cemetery and that's why most
Speaker:of the bodies that are there are going
Speaker:to be from Civil War on
Speaker:so you're not going to have older
Speaker:military conflicts buried there
Speaker:now there are older bodies there I think
Speaker:some of the
Speaker:family of the Lee family of the custis
Speaker:family are buried there because they had
Speaker:died there and also anybody who was
Speaker:enslaved by the leaves could be buried
Speaker:there as well so there's a whole section
Speaker:to the enslaved of their family that is
Speaker:actual is actually buried there as well
Speaker:but so that is how Arlington now is the
Speaker:national cemetery of the United States
Speaker:and I when we went there one of the
Speaker:first people I wanted to find was Kara
Speaker:holtgreen and Carol holtgreen was
Speaker:important to me because as a midshipman
Speaker:of Penn State I had read her book call
Speaker:sign Revlon now Carol holgreen was
Speaker:buried much more recently yes she
Speaker:because she dies in 1994. she's the
Speaker:first Naval aviator
Speaker:um fighter pilot female
Speaker:so for me it was very inspirational
Speaker:she's the first female to qualify in an
Speaker:F-14
Speaker:and what happens is she she actually
Speaker:crashes her F-14 on the USS Abraham
Speaker:Lincoln off the coast of San Diego
Speaker:it's it's one of those things that she
Speaker:stalls out and as
Speaker:they're ejecting her co-pilot her nfo is
Speaker:fine but just like I think it was like
Speaker:point
Speaker:one second the plane had rolled to such
Speaker:a degree that she ejects into the ocean
Speaker:and she dies instantly yeah there was
Speaker:there was a cool you actually can find
Speaker:right as I was making the video I could
Speaker:find some news Clips because when
Speaker:there's usually there's a first of
Speaker:anybody doing anything in the military
Speaker:she was interviewing some interviews and
Speaker:some coverage and we I found out through
Speaker:you that her call sign was Revlon yes
Speaker:because she wore makeup she wore makeup
Speaker:um and so I thought that was really
Speaker:interesting and it was cool to to go and
Speaker:see that yeah and there was there's a
Speaker:lot of controversy around her crash
Speaker:right people like and you can imagine 60
Speaker:Minutes at a whole special or women how
Speaker:did she get where she was yeah
Speaker:you know all sorts all sorts of stuff
Speaker:and it's that's gonna
Speaker:stuff like that for those who aren't
Speaker:familiar with the military like we are
Speaker:stuff like that's going to come up
Speaker:regardless of how amazing you are or how
Speaker:bad you are exactly
Speaker:um so but it was cool just to go because
Speaker:she was a huge influencer yes and I had
Speaker:never been there so for me it was neat
Speaker:you'll see me actually like salute her
Speaker:grave in the video because I'm just very
Speaker:inspired by her
Speaker:the other grave we could so because we
Speaker:go to Marina O'Hara
Speaker:I was looking up other people kind of
Speaker:related to her movies and I had found
Speaker:that Lee Marvin was buried in Arlington
Speaker:and I loved Lee Marvin I really only had
Speaker:known him from The Man Who Shot Liberty
Speaker:Valance and that is an amazing John
Speaker:Wayne movie Jimmy Stewart John Wayne Lee
Speaker:Marvin black and white John John Ford
Speaker:directed it it's one of those movies
Speaker:that really makes you think about
Speaker:there is a time when you do need someone
Speaker:to fight yeah there is a time when it's
Speaker:not going to be enough to just be smart
Speaker:and know the words and know the law
Speaker:there is going to be somebody sometime
Speaker:who has to actually fight so so if if
Speaker:people don't know that movie you'd give
Speaker:us like a one or two sentence overview
Speaker:you have John Wayne old Gunslinger who's
Speaker:trying to make it on the frontier and
Speaker:you have Jimmy Stewart who comes into
Speaker:town who's a lawyer and he wants to
Speaker:bring the law to like a lawless
Speaker:a rural area out in the west somewhere
Speaker:that hasn't even found statehood yet Lee
Speaker:Marvin plays the antagonist the huge
Speaker:antagonist he's Liberty Valance he's
Speaker:like this bad guy who just as you can
Speaker:imagine the old west just comes in and
Speaker:terrorizes everybody and people just pay
Speaker:him off or do whatever it takes to get
Speaker:him away do I am I remembering right
Speaker:that he did he get nominated for an
Speaker:award for this not for this but he went
Speaker:to the movie In general the movie in
Speaker:general yes um best picture yeah and
Speaker:because it's shot in black and white
Speaker:John Ford makes a point to shoot it in
Speaker:black and white even though this is way
Speaker:past color you know um but because he
Speaker:wants that kind of grittiness
Speaker:but you have in the end Jimmy Stewart is
Speaker:trying to prove a point that he can take
Speaker:down this guy with just being smart he
Speaker:can take down this guy just being you
Speaker:know using books and stuff and and
Speaker:Liberty Balance is having none of it
Speaker:challenges him to a shootout yeah and in
Speaker:the I mean you have to watch it I want
Speaker:to give it away the end has a pretty
Speaker:good twist yeah and the one thing I will
Speaker:say and then we'll get into the kind of
Speaker:gravesite itself
Speaker:um again as someone who was not familiar
Speaker:with this movie and who's not as huge
Speaker:fan as old movies as you are right
Speaker:um but it's making this video if you're
Speaker:listening to this podcast and you've
Speaker:never seen some of these old movies I
Speaker:would encourage you to see if you can
Speaker:find them streaming somewhere or rent it
Speaker:for a night because these old movies the
Speaker:one thing that I realized is I've
Speaker:covered folks like Jimmy Stewart and
Speaker:John Wayne and some of these these
Speaker:actors right
Speaker:um
Speaker:they can't cover up a movie with special
Speaker:effects with you know music that's super
Speaker:catchy you know or whatever like this is
Speaker:just acting in its kind of golden age
Speaker:yes and the acting that I see even in
Speaker:just finding clips for these movies
Speaker:absolutely blows me away yes I mean he
Speaker:was fantastic and he went on to have a
Speaker:very long and and storied Hollywood
Speaker:career absolutely I always say there's
Speaker:few people that can hold their own
Speaker:against John Wayne as a and Jimmy
Speaker:Stewart and Jimmy Stewart as an
Speaker:antagonist yeah and Lee Marvin does it
Speaker:yeah he and I haven't seen anyone who
Speaker:can really pull it off quite like he
Speaker:does in this movie yeah yeah he he was
Speaker:fantastic and I was just again this
Speaker:happens to me multiple times I guess I
Speaker:should stop being surprised I'm looking
Speaker:up these old Super Famous super you know
Speaker:decorated actors
Speaker:um and actresses and just seeing how
Speaker:amazing they are yeah so that's a movie
Speaker:that I encourage folks to look up
Speaker:because Lee Marvin's gravesite was
Speaker:pretty cool it was pretty cool and you
Speaker:know his so
Speaker:so the section and then it gives you the
Speaker:grave number and Lee Marvin's I got to
Speaker:the section I'm looking to get the
Speaker:numbers and they're not in order and I'm
Speaker:looking all around I'm looking all
Speaker:around and then there's a very famous
Speaker:grave in that section of Joe Lewis which
Speaker:doesn't look like the other white Graves
Speaker:it's actually a different color and it's
Speaker:bigger and Lee Marvin's is actually
Speaker:right beside Joe Lewis yeah so I was
Speaker:like oh there it is not in sequential
Speaker:order at all
Speaker:um so that so it was easy to find in
Speaker:that regard but hard to find because
Speaker:it's not in the order it should be
Speaker:but he was a Marine
Speaker:and that's why he's in Arlington
Speaker:National Cemetery he was a Marine in
Speaker:World War II he is in the Battle of
Speaker:Saipan on June 18 1944 and he gets
Speaker:machine gun fire that severs his sciatic
Speaker:nerve basically he's shot in the
Speaker:buttocks like uh Forrest Gump and he
Speaker:spends a year in a military hospital so
Speaker:he gets the purple heart as well and
Speaker:it's after that that he decides to go
Speaker:into acting and he gets best actor in
Speaker:1965. that's the clip we use in the in
Speaker:the video for Cat Ballou which is also
Speaker:like a western and he plays a dual
Speaker:character so he's playing two different
Speaker:parts and I think people were just
Speaker:really impressed with his acting and
Speaker:that's I mean he wins best actor which
Speaker:is pretty big deal uh he's actually
Speaker:named in honor of Robert E Lee is he
Speaker:really yeah I don't think I knew that
Speaker:it's like his first cousin
Speaker:twice removed or third removed or
Speaker:something like that but he dies of a
Speaker:heart attack in 1987. he's 63 years old
Speaker:and he's buried in section 7A
Speaker:so that's the same section as uh Joe
Speaker:Lewis yeah yeah again uh a decorated he
Speaker:said marine marine decorate a marine who
Speaker:decides to like oh yeah I'm gonna go
Speaker:into acting and just then knocks it out
Speaker:of the park in acting yeah and people I
Speaker:mean people like Lee Marvin for like the
Speaker:dirty dozen he's known for a lot of
Speaker:different things yeah there's some old
Speaker:war movies uh that he's in that that are
Speaker:actually more famous than the man who
Speaker:shot Elizabeth yeah but that's what I
Speaker:know him yeah yeah
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:um one of the graves that we go to there
Speaker:that's what's interesting about
Speaker:Arlington to kind of go off is you don't
Speaker:really allowed to put a lot of things
Speaker:there they're allowed to stay permanent
Speaker:so they don't really allow Flags there
Speaker:they only allow flags on Memorial Day
Speaker:and they'll put a flag on every grave
Speaker:but um They Don't Really allow
Speaker:stationary flowers
Speaker:they usually remove those things they
Speaker:don't really allow I think they allow
Speaker:wreaths for Christmas but one person
Speaker:who's allowed to have flowers all the
Speaker:time is Audie Murphy
Speaker:really yes so that's another he's the
Speaker:only one that's allowed yes I think
Speaker:sometimes and maybe some the John F
Speaker:Kennedy that's just because of how
Speaker:decorated he was because of how
Speaker:decorated okay so so tell us who Audie
Speaker:Murphy is so Audie Murphy is actually
Speaker:the second most visited visited
Speaker:gravesite behind JFK wow yeah I don't
Speaker:think I knew that and his is I mean it's
Speaker:it's there's lots of stuff there but
Speaker:it's small it's it's not like so like I
Speaker:told you Joe Lewis will have a different
Speaker:grave it's bigger other people might
Speaker:have different Graves I think Ruth Bader
Speaker:Ginsburg has like a big black Marvel
Speaker:grave Audie Murphy just has a white
Speaker:pillar like most of the other Graves
Speaker:there and he is considered the most
Speaker:decorated soldier of World War II
Speaker:now there's some debate about that after
Speaker:I had said that in the video people had
Speaker:some debate about that so it is a couple
Speaker:other people but he's one of them or if
Speaker:not
Speaker:he's known for uh they've actually made
Speaker:a
Speaker:walkway to his grave since it's so
Speaker:visited it's on the tram tour it'll have
Speaker:flowers there you'll be able to pick it
Speaker:out what's interesting about his grave
Speaker:though is he's a Medal of Honor
Speaker:recipient and there was a time when they
Speaker:replaced all of the metal on a recipient
Speaker:Graves with gold leaf and he he had told
Speaker:his family
Speaker:that he doesn't want anything special
Speaker:about his grave so when they asked his
Speaker:family if they could replace it they
Speaker:said no so even it says Medal of Honor
Speaker:It Is Not Gold leafed or anything he
Speaker:said he didn't want to stand out yeah he
Speaker:did some movie stuff too right so yeah
Speaker:so he he actually was in like 47 films
Speaker:he had a 21-year movie career but
Speaker:what is interesting about Audie Murphy
Speaker:is he
Speaker:lies about his age and he's too thin to
Speaker:get into the Navy and the Air Force and
Speaker:the Marine Corps he's very like Captain
Speaker:America yeah and then he's finally
Speaker:accepted by the Army that's crazy it's
Speaker:crazy and so then what he does like his
Speaker:most famous
Speaker:when he when he receives the Medal of
Speaker:Honor it's in 1945 he holds back six
Speaker:tanks on his own he tells his company to
Speaker:to take cover and he holds off these six
Speaker:tanks for an hour and he does this I
Speaker:think he had just turned 19 years old oh
Speaker:my gosh can you imagine just turned 19
Speaker:years old and he does this and this is
Speaker:what this is how he um he's awarded the
Speaker:Medal of Honor but he has tons of I mean
Speaker:he has I think I go into all the awards
Speaker:he has received in the military and
Speaker:they're all on his not all of them are
Speaker:on this the stone but a bunch of them uh
Speaker:but yeah he so he has this movie career
Speaker:he comes back he processes his PTSD
Speaker:through movies he does like The Red
Speaker:Badge of Courage he does to Helen Back
Speaker:and those are military movies
Speaker:um I think to hell and back is about his
Speaker:about himself it's about his story but
Speaker:most of his movies are Westerns
Speaker:that's kind of what he does a lot of and
Speaker:he
Speaker:dies in a plane crash unfortunately in
Speaker:1971 right before he turns 46 years old
Speaker:so yeah and like I said he uh trying to
Speaker:think he was filming his last film it's
Speaker:called the time for dying so it's
Speaker:actually very ominous
Speaker:but um yeah that's Audie Murphy like
Speaker:he's like I said most people know him
Speaker:from movies most people know him
Speaker:actually as the most decorated soldier
Speaker:of World War II and he's again the
Speaker:second most visited his grave it's kind
Speaker:of convenient I use that word Loosely
Speaker:because it's right across from the um
Speaker:two in the Unknown Soldier yeah his was
Speaker:much easier to find but again it's it's
Speaker:one of the like I think it's literally
Speaker:probably marked as one of like the
Speaker:popular Graves that's on like visitor
Speaker:stuff there right it's the [ __ ] stops
Speaker:there yes
Speaker:um it's pointed out it's it's pointed
Speaker:out it's it's very clear it's a lot of
Speaker:people and and again my own ignorance
Speaker:here I had no idea who he was I had I
Speaker:had no clue my mom like people mostly
Speaker:know from the movies yeah because like
Speaker:he made a movie about his life so people
Speaker:know yeah he played himself played
Speaker:himself so people know him from the
Speaker:movies
Speaker:but
Speaker:I'd say right down the hill was it kind
Speaker:of down the hill from the Tomb of the
Speaker:Unknown was Maureen O'Hara or was she
Speaker:down the hill from Arlington House
Speaker:no it was down the hill from a too many
Speaker:unknown soldier it was in that area yes
Speaker:so mourin O'Hara is who we came to see
Speaker:yeah and when I even got there it looked
Speaker:like no one even knew she was there I
Speaker:wanted to like yell out to people this
Speaker:is Maureen O'Hara like to me it was like
Speaker:how do people not know she's right here
Speaker:now her stone is a little bigger right
Speaker:and she's not it's not I mean it's it's
Speaker:hers but she shares it with her husband
Speaker:her husband's first and she's buried
Speaker:there because because of him right so if
Speaker:you are married or a child
Speaker:and I think a child not quite of age you
Speaker:can be buried at Arlington Cemetery so
Speaker:the Arlington Cemetery is not just open
Speaker:for service members it's open for
Speaker:service members and her husband was what
Speaker:like a two or three star he was a
Speaker:brigadier general in the Air Force and
Speaker:and he was actually her second husband
Speaker:her second and his third yeah and
Speaker:um they met in 1971 he dies in 1978 he's
Speaker:69 when he dies so he was probably what
Speaker:62
Speaker:62 when they got married yeah I mean
Speaker:yeah you're doing the math I trust you
Speaker:yeah a public math so I mean they marry
Speaker:late in life yeah right but she says
Speaker:he's the love of her life and she will
Speaker:forever miss him and it's just a merry
Speaker:after him
Speaker:and no I think you're right I think he's
Speaker:her third
Speaker:and I think
Speaker:she's his third I think it's both the
Speaker:thirds and didn't you say I think you
Speaker:say this in the video too that like she
Speaker:always said that he was who John Wayne
Speaker:yes pretended to be so she always said
Speaker:that she said I married the man that
Speaker:John Wayne pretended to be in movies
Speaker:yeah because John Wayne will do like you
Speaker:know
Speaker:Where Eagles Fly the roughest of the
Speaker:toughness yeah like he'll play these
Speaker:aviators Right Where Eagles Dare To Fly
Speaker:and like those those war movies right
Speaker:right and he's playing like these really
Speaker:tough heroic men and she said I married
Speaker:that man he I married the real deal and
Speaker:so um
Speaker:and and so finding her gray there she
Speaker:has one of those bigger marble grave and
Speaker:she's married under Fitzsimmons Blair so
Speaker:she's married she's she's buried under
Speaker:Marine Fitzsimmons Blair and then it
Speaker:says smaller Merino Hera so you have to
Speaker:kind of be looking and if you try to
Speaker:look her up on the Arlington site it
Speaker:won't pop up under Merino hair you have
Speaker:to look up Marine Blair because that's
Speaker:his name Charles Blair
Speaker:uh so we we visited there we left a rock
Speaker:I talked a little bit about John Wayne
Speaker:and her and I talked a little bit about
Speaker:Lucille Ball because she was her and
Speaker:Lucille Ball had kind of started making
Speaker:movies at the same time kind of B movies
Speaker:and she claims to have been there that
Speaker:when Lucy met Desi for the first time
Speaker:and
Speaker:you know we just kind of go into John
Speaker:Ford
Speaker:and the other movies she made like I I'm
Speaker:a huge fan of
Speaker:Tyrone Power she had a movie with Tyrone
Speaker:Power she made a movie with Jimmy
Speaker:Stewart like she was this huge actress
Speaker:that was a great leading lady she played
Speaker:in a lot of roles opposite a strong
Speaker:leading man and she could hold her own
Speaker:and that's why John Wayne has that
Speaker:favorite famous saying she's the
Speaker:greatest guy he ever knew yeah
Speaker:that's a great quote because she could
Speaker:hold her own yeah and that's what he
Speaker:really liked about her and even when
Speaker:they did the quiet man there's that part
Speaker:where he's dragging her through the
Speaker:field and like he really did that you
Speaker:know and so and she had just had a baby
Speaker:you know but she was like all for
Speaker:whatever it takes so she she said that
Speaker:um when she would be interviewed she
Speaker:said Leading Men really appreciated that
Speaker:about her like she was willing willing
Speaker:to do whatever it took to get the shot
Speaker:and to do the stunt so
Speaker:um
Speaker:yeah it was really I was really really
Speaker:honored to find her grave I think I left
Speaker:her heart rock
Speaker:and she was very important so I'm she
Speaker:was the biggie and I think she's the
Speaker:picture on our yeah she's the thumbnail
Speaker:she's and I think to your to your credit
Speaker:I think she's the reason that that video
Speaker:kind of took off I do too right plus I
Speaker:think I did pretty good job making it so
Speaker:I think you did too although some people
Speaker:get upset a little bit but those uh
Speaker:cut-ins but yeah you know people have
Speaker:opinions about you know but when we're
Speaker:trying to keep it interesting and so I
Speaker:was actually looking again interesting
Speaker:behind the scenes here I was looking and
Speaker:YouTube analytics will actually give you
Speaker:Impressions so basically how many people
Speaker:it's been shown to it's been almost a
Speaker:million people oh my gosh yeah well I
Speaker:think it's a great video
Speaker:to do those types of people in Arlington
Speaker:those those Movie Makers those those
Speaker:history makers that are in the media
Speaker:because most people don't realize that
Speaker:they're there so yeah and an Impressions
Speaker:it's not like it's near in your direct
Speaker:feed it could be one of the 15 different
Speaker:thumbnails on your on your YouTube home
Speaker:screen or something like that but I just
Speaker:thought that was cool like yeah because
Speaker:it's it's one of our more popular videos
Speaker:so
Speaker:um
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:so the one last thing I wanted to talk
Speaker:about real quick was um the Tomb of the
Speaker:Unknown yeah
Speaker:that opened it was dedicated November 11
Speaker:1921.
Speaker:um the first person in turn there was a
Speaker:soldier from World War one right and so
Speaker:they just had that hundred year
Speaker:anniversary yeah that was some month or
Speaker:two ago yeah so November 11th yeah and
Speaker:Veterans Day yeah and that was the first
Speaker:time they allowed the public to get
Speaker:close to the tomb and lay flowers and
Speaker:stuff I think it's like the this was the
Speaker:first time ever in a hundred years yeah
Speaker:the first it's always been guarded yeah
Speaker:it's always been guarded so I thought
Speaker:that was really neat and again for for
Speaker:anyone listening who doesn't isn't
Speaker:familiar with the Tomb of the Unknown
Speaker:Soldier this
Speaker:is essentially more a monument yes right
Speaker:a memorial yes all of those people all
Speaker:of those soldiers that are killed in
Speaker:action that can never be brought home
Speaker:that are missing in action you know Etc
Speaker:and all that stuff and so the army
Speaker:actually has a dedicated unit that
Speaker:guards it 24 7 365 days a year rain snow
Speaker:doesn't matter it doesn't matter what
Speaker:you walk in there all night long all day
Speaker:long and it's actually incredibly
Speaker:prestigious for
Speaker:folks in the Army to go through this
Speaker:unit
Speaker:and Incredibly difficult to to get
Speaker:qualified to be screened to come in and
Speaker:do it and they take their job seriously
Speaker:super you cannot like be talking during
Speaker:Changing of the Guard there you cannot I
Speaker:mean they'll yell at you and it I've
Speaker:seen like random videos of people like
Speaker:trying to run up and trying to you know
Speaker:either mess with them or try to touch a
Speaker:thing they don't [ __ ] around yeah they
Speaker:don't they don't and I think I think you
Speaker:have to adhere to certain guidelines if
Speaker:you're on that in that group you can't
Speaker:drink right I think you're not allowed
Speaker:you have to always present yourself in a
Speaker:prestigious
Speaker:way yeah like I think there are these
Speaker:rules if you're going to be a part of
Speaker:the two million Soldier guard you have
Speaker:to take a take it upon yourself to
Speaker:uphold the standard for military wise I
Speaker:mean it's kind of like you're regarding
Speaker:some of the most hallowed yeah grounds
Speaker:yes that that you can that you can guard
Speaker:right this this symbol of all of those
Speaker:soldiers who who pay the ultimate price
Speaker:yes for the country that never came home
Speaker:that were never identified that you know
Speaker:they
Speaker:sell where they did yes and they gave
Speaker:their life and and they stayed there
Speaker:yeah because nobody was able to bring
Speaker:them home and that's you know when
Speaker:people go to Arlington that's one of the
Speaker:things people want to see is The
Speaker:Changing of the Guard it's really neat
Speaker:because those guys I mean they practice
Speaker:Ad nauseam and they are I mean to a t
Speaker:perfect yeah what they do they're
Speaker:Precision it's incredible it's like kind
Speaker:of like Ethan eye like the Marine Corps
Speaker:ethani like the drill stuff yes but just
Speaker:with something much more solemn yes yeah
Speaker:yeah so if you ever get a chance that's
Speaker:the one of the things that tram will
Speaker:take you to it's one of the things you
Speaker:get to see I think they change every
Speaker:it's like hour I thought it was 20
Speaker:minutes
Speaker:it's like it's it's every hour it's not
Speaker:every 20 minutes if somebody knows
Speaker:tell us yeah hit us up on Twitter I
Speaker:don't think it's an hour they're not
Speaker:going to make you march for an hour back
Speaker:and forth then they're doing this uh 24
Speaker:hours a day yeah it's about every 20
Speaker:minutes I don't think it's every hour
Speaker:we'll follow up in the next episode yeah
Speaker:we'll do we'll have a little uh podcast
Speaker:follow up in the next episode
Speaker:um but now they have women who are on
Speaker:that guard as well I think she was out
Speaker:there when we were she was out there
Speaker:when we were there yeah she was
Speaker:inspecting yeah because I think when
Speaker:they
Speaker:switch they not they not only switch the
Speaker:guard they have their inspector come out
Speaker:and then switch them you know so but
Speaker:that so we're gonna do more episodes
Speaker:with more of the people we saw because
Speaker:we want to give this time and yeah we
Speaker:don't want to do an hour-long podcast
Speaker:um that's not what talk with history is
Speaker:it's supposed to be kind of bite size
Speaker:um and so as you can tell by the stories
Speaker:of those that we covered just today and
Speaker:and how much there is to talk about
Speaker:we've all really barely scratched the
Speaker:surface of what we personally have
Speaker:covered at Arlington
Speaker:so you can look forward to the next part
Speaker:of our talk with history Arlington
Speaker:series next week bright and early Monday
Speaker:morning we'll continue doing this and
Speaker:there'll probably be multiple podcasts
Speaker:covering Arlington because there's so
Speaker:much detail and so many good stories
Speaker:there yes um it's going to take us a few
Speaker:episodes to cover everything because
Speaker:we've been back twice
Speaker:um so thank you again for listening to
Speaker:the talk with History Podcast and please
Speaker:reach out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com but more importantly if you
Speaker:know someone else that might enjoy this
Speaker:podcast please share this with them
Speaker:especially if you think that today's
Speaker:topic would interest a friend shoot them
Speaker:a text tell them to look up the talk
Speaker:with Hershey podcast because we rely on
Speaker:you our community to grow and we
Speaker:appreciate you all every day we'll talk
Speaker:to you next time thank you
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:[Applause]
