Джон Ф. Кеннедидің мәңгілік жалыны: Арлингтон зиратындағы естелік орны

Presidential memorial in the United States

The John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame is a presidential memorial at the gravesite of assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This permanent site replaced a temporary grave and eternal flame used at the time of Kennedy's state funeral on November 25, 1963, three days after his assassination. The site was designed by architect John Carl Warnecke, a long time friend of Kennedy. The permanent John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame grave site was consecrated and opened to the public on March 15, 1967. Initial press reports indicated that Kennedy would be buried at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts, where his son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (who had died on August 9, 1963, two days after his premature birth) was buried. But the site for Kennedy's grave was quickly changed to the hillside just below Arlington House in Arlington National Cemetery; some months earlier Kennedy had admired the location's peaceful atmosphere while visiting it with his friend, architect John Carl Warnecke. The initial suggestion to bury Kennedy at Arlington appears to have been made by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy agreed to the change. According to several published accounts, she drew inspiration from a number of sources. One was the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which she and Kennedy had seen during a visit to France in 1961. She also took inspiration from the novel The Candle in the Wind (the fourth book from the collection The Once and Future King by T. H. White), which was part of the inspiration for the 1960 stage musical Camelot (the cast recording was a favorite of the Kennedys). Her brother in law, Sargent Shriver, counseled against an eternal flame, worried that it might appear ostentatious or that it would compete with other such memorials at Arlington National Cemetery; The Corps also installed a gas line to a propane tank away to feed the torch. Efn|In 1955, Arlington National Cemetery stopped using gravediggers and mechanized the grave digging process by purchasing a Trench Master light backhoe. Cemetery worker Clifton Pollard used the backhoe to dig Kennedy's grave on Sunday, November 24. The Washington Wilbert Vault Works of Rockville, Maryland, provided the burial vault, a "Copper Triune" double reinforced, copper lined concrete vault. The grave was placed so that it had a view of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, and was aligned with them. Kennedy's brothers, Robert and Ted, symbolically lit the flame after her. A small white cross was placed at the head of Arabella's grave, and a small white headstone placed at the head of Patrick's. Warnecke immediately concluded that the permanent grave must be simple and incorporate the eternal flame. But the Army was also considering removing the flame, as no such memorials were permitted in Arlington National Cemetery. On December 3, 1963, the Army concluded that the Kennedy plot was not part of the official burial section of Arlington National Cemetery, and agreed to continue to allow an eternal flame. An extensive research project was conducted in which hundreds of famous tombs (such as the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and Grant's Tomb) as well as all existing presidential burial sites were documented and images of them collected. Warnecke discussed design concepts with more than 40 architects, sculptors, painters, landscape architects, stonemasons, calligraphers, and liturgical experts The walkways were intended to overcome the steep 45 degree incline of the hill up to the burial plot. The northeastern side of the elliptical plaza would be enclosed by a low wall inscribed with quotes from Kennedy's speeches. The walkways, elliptical plaza, and terrace were designed to accommodate more than 50,000 visitors per day. At the time of the design's unveiling, the quotations for the low wall had not yet been selected by Mrs. Kennedy.

The plan was for work to begin in the fall of 1965 and be completed by the fall of 1966. Work on the John F. Kennedy burial site continued over the next two and a half years. The Washington Gas and Light Company offered to build, maintain, and supply gas to the eternal flame at no expense. The final burner was a specially designed torch created by the Institute of Gas Technology with an electrical ignition which kept the flame lit in wind or rain and which fed the gas oxygen to create the correct color. A debate broke out between providers of bottled propane gas and line fed natural gas as to which source of fuel should be used to supply the eternal flame. The debate was so vigorous that it broke out in public in March 1964. The cost of construction of the actual grave site was estimated at $309,000. A $1.4 million contract for construction was awarded to Aberthaw Construction in mid July 1965. Prior to construction, several design changes were made to the Kennedy grave site. The retaining wall behind the grave was removed, and the hill landscaped to allow an unobstructed view of Arlington House. In November 1965, the contractors estimated that the site would be finished by July 1966. For a time in the fall of 1966, the Army considered floodlighting the site to permit night time ceremonies, but this plan was quickly discarded. In mid October 1966, design changes and construction delays had forced the opening of the new burial site to early 1967.

The permanent John F. Kennedy grave site opened with little announcement or fanfare on March 15, 1967. A few days before, the eternal flame had been moved from its temporary location to the new site. The reburial of the bodies occurred on the evening of March 14, after Arlington National Cemetery had closed. Earth over the existing grave was removed, and a small crane was used to lift the burial vault (which remained unopened) from the old grave and place it in the new one. The event was unannounced. Exhumation began at 6:19 PM and was complete at 9:00 PM. Also laid on the greenery were the insignia of a U. S. Army military policeman and the shoulder braid from a soldier in the 3rd US Infantry Regiment.

Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. An expansion to the John F. Kennedy grave site was dedicated in 1971 to accommodate Robert Kennedy's grave. Robert F. Kennedy's resting place is only about 50 feet (15 m) southwest from the terrace at the John F. Kennedy site. Robert Kennedy is buried on the upslope side of the walkway, his burial vault marked by a white cross and a slate headstone set flush with the earth. A low granite wall similar to the one at the John F. Kennedy terrace contains quotations from famous Robert F. Kennedy speeches, and a small reflecting pool. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried at the site alongside Kennedy following her death in May 1994. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was buried about 100 feet (30 m) south of Robert Kennedy's memorial between two maple trees shortly after his death on August 25, 2009, from brain cancer.

The 220 year old "Arlington Oak", which stood off center within the Kennedy memorial gravesite area, was uprooted and killed on August 27, 2011, during Hurricane Irene. The gravesite was closed to the public for two days to remove the tree and stump, but reopened on August 30.

Arlington National Cemetery experts said in 2001 that it cost about $200 a month to keep the flame burning. Its original, custom manufactured ignition system, contained in a box buried a few feet from the grave, controlled the flow of gas and oxygen to the flame and activated a 20,000 volt spark ignition electrode near the gas burner whenever the flame was extinguished. In 2012, the automatic ignition system began clicking audibly. In early 2013, a $350,000 contract was awarded for upgrading the system. During the work the permanent flame was extinguished after being transferred to a temporary flame to one side. The refurbishment replaced the original burner with one not requiring a separate oxygen supply, laid new gas lines, relocated gas pressure regulators, added controls to improve energy efficiency, and replaced electrical lines. The flame was returned to the upgraded permanent eternal flame on May 17, 2013, and the temporary flame extinguished. In 2010, the carved inscriptions in the low stone wall in front of the site were renewed, which power cleaning and weather had made difficult to read. The Knights of Columbus donated $6,000 to have the letters darkened and more deeply incised in time for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's inauguration. Gordon Ponsford, a sculptor who restored several major monuments at Arlington National Cemetery, performed the work. In August 1967, an exceptionally heavy rain extinguished the permanent flame and flooding of electrical equipment disabled the spark igniter. In both cases the flame was quickly relit manually.

In 2013, the Eternal Flame was shared for the first time in its history. On June 18, a U. S. Army honor guard accompanied Irish Minister of State Paul Kehoe, T. D., in a wreath laying ceremony at the Kennedy grave site. An Irish Army officer, accompanied by an Irish Army honor guard, lit a lamp in a metal burner (The lamp and burner were created by the Bullfinch company, which also designed the torches for the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay.) which traversed the Irish Sea and sailed up the River Barrow to New Ross

Immediately after Kennedy's burial, the grave and Eternal Flame were being visited by 50,000 people per day. The presence of the grave also boosted attendance at Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy's funeral had been televised live, with 93 percent of all American homes watching. Satellites beamed the proceedings to another 23 countries, where another 600 million viewers watched. The stamp also used the words "And the glow from that fire can truly light the world"—an excerpt from Kennedy's inaugural address. A mentally ill individual attempted to throw red paint on the grave in August 1971. A 23 year old Army veteran committed suicide at the grave in 1972 by plunging a knife into his chest. In December 1982, an intoxicated Salvadoran immigrant broke into the cemetery at night and knelt before the Eternal Flame. He experienced a fatal heart attack, and fell into the flame. In 1997, thieves pried loose one of the paving stones from the terrace in front of the Eternal Flame and attempted to make off with it. They gave up after realizing the stone was too heavy to move.