The Riderless Horse

By Joyce Shaw

I suppose most people would consider it morbid to show interest in funerals (unless your profession is a funeral director!).

However, TV bombards us in its advertising, hoping we will buy funeral plans and make it easier for our families as we near the end!!

Walking around a cemetery also sounds quite ghoulish, but it can be an interesting experience if we find out about possible ancestors.

My memorable and unexpected experience happened on a visit to Washington DC in
the USA.

The schedule was planned for the group to spend the day in a cemetery! …..but not spooky or weird, as it was Arlington National Cemetery which is officially in Virginia across the Potomac River and is 639 acres, with 400,000 graves and is the largest in USA maintained by the US Army.

The Eternal Flame was a special feature, as we viewed JFK’s tomb and family plot.

The headstone of 7 Astronauts of Space Challenger Mission had me enthralled as I had followed the plans of Christa McAuliffe, the female teacher who was one of the 7 astronauts on the mission 1986 and had been selected to become the first teacher in space. They had set off with such wonderful hopes but the mission lasted only 73 seconds killing all aboard.

Little was I to know that a few years after my Washington visit, I would be meeting astronauts personally in Houston, Texas, who talked with the children in my charge, and I couldn’t imagine that I would living, (just for a couple of days!) next door to Alan Bean who was one of the 12 astronauts to walk on the moon. His hobby when he retired, was to paint and I was lucky enough to see his paintings which always included a piece of moon dust!

Every grave contained a hero with a story, and this included the likes of boxer Joe Louis and Audie Murphy the film star in Westerns.
Everyone buried there had served in the Armed forces (or was a close family member).

We had made our way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the Changing of the Guard happened every hour.

We had been given so much significant information on the ceremony….The Tomb Guard marches exactly 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the process. The number 21 symbolizes the highest military honour that can be bestowed, ie the
21-gun salute.

Each tomb guard wears sunglasses because of the bright reflection from the marble in this little amphitheatre, and he has metal plates built into the soles of the shoes to give the signature click of the heel during the marching up and down.

As we climbed back onto the open bus, we were suddenly confronted with a student volunteer who told us in a forthright tone that we must remain in absolute silence, keep all arms and elbows inside the vehicle and of course no photos or cameras could be used.

What was happening?

From a distance we saw the procession of military personnel, horses and a gun carriage carrying the flag covered coffin, but most significantly for me, was the riderless horse with the reversed saddle and boots, signifying that the warrior would never ride again.

I never knew who the soldier was, but to have such a ceremony, he would be of high rank. We continued to watch, as the flag covering the coffin was folded and handed to the widow.

It was a stark reminder of the funeral in 1963, of JFK and was very moving and an event which stayed in my memory.