NO VETS = NO MEMORIAL DAY = NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS = NO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (THANK YOU)

NO VETS = NO MEMORIAL DAY = NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS = NO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (THANK YOU):

WE OWE OUR U.S. MILITARY TROOPS & VETS EVERYTHING GOOD.

CIVIL SERVANTS WORKING IN FEDERAL JOBS WHO DON'T PROPERLY HONOR OUR NATION'S VETS SHOULD BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE & SERVICE.

GOD BLESS AMERICA.


Post Sources: NY Post, NY Times, Youtube


***** On This Memorial Day Consider What We Owe America's Vets


The numbers are sobering: More than 1 million men and women have given their lives serving in our military during wartime, with thousands more dying in other conflicts.

Many died long ago in some of our nation’s — and world’s — most-well-known conflicts. Some died during operations few will ever hear about in history class. And, unfortunately and inevitably, more will die serving our country honorably battling terrorism, tyranny and threats to the American way of life.

None will be forgotten.

Officially recognized as first having been celebrated upstate in Waterloo in 1866, Memorial Day — then known as Decoration Day — was a community remembrance.

When the first official Decoration Day ceremonies were held at Arlington National Cemetery in 1868, James A. Garfield, a future president and a Civil War combat veteran, told the thousands gathered, “For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”

Today, we still remember their patriotism and virtue, and that of the scores who have selflessly sacrificed since to make this the greatest country in the world.
It is a blessing to count myself among those who served our nation and came home to enjoy all that America has to offer. While many have been so lucky to return, there are countless others who have struggled with the lasting effects of conflict, both physical and emotional.

In the same way we must not forget the sacrifice of those who have given their lives to protect our freedoms, we proud Americans and New Yorkers must not turn our backs on our veterans and military members in need.

We owe it to our veterans grappling with post-traumatic stress to continue researching new treatment options. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, between 11 and 20 percent of our Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans deal with PTS. It is estimated that about 30 percent of our Vietnam veterans have had PTS at some point, according to the VA.

We owe it to our veterans who have fallen into homelessness or are on the verge of homelessness to ensure that they do not continue to slip through the cracks. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated in 2017 that more than 40,000 veterans were homeless on any given night, with more than 1,200 veterans experiencing homelessness in New York.

As a state and a nation, we must get our arms around this crisis and implement the proper policies to make sure vets have what they need long before they reach the point of homelessness or penury. We can’t wait until people are in crisis before we help them.

We owe it to all veterans and their families to ensure they receive the benefits they’re entitled to. No veteran should have to worry that red tape will keep them from accessing health care, education, insurance and the many other benefits we offer those who served.

Just as I am a proud New Yorker, American and veteran, I am a proud member of the American Legion, an organization that for nearly 100 years has advocated for veterans and active-duty military members to ensure that all sacrifices are remembered. As we near our centennial celebration in 2019, I encourage all New Yorkers — not just those who are eligible to join us — to learn more about our advocacy, programs and benefits-assistance efforts.

And I encourage our current and former service members to reach out to our state headquarters or their local posts to learn more about how we can serve them.
The American Legion Department of New York is proud to honor all who have served — regardless of branch, age, gender and background — and extend a hand to those who need it the most. We urge all New Yorkers to proudly do the same.

US Navy veteran Rena Nessler is the commander of the American Legion Department of New York.

MEMORIAL DAY 2017 (TRUMP'S ARLINGTON SPEECH)

Sources: Arlington Cemetery, YouTube

Pres. Obama Lays Wreath At Tomb Of Unknown Soldier & Gives Honor To Fallen Heroes (Video)

"Today, we honor those who loved their country so much they sacrificed their lives for it. We owe them a debt we can never repay."
Pres. Barack Obama, Memorial Day 2012



Obama Memorial Day Ceremony: President Honors Fallen Troops At Arlington National Cemetery

President Barack Obama paid tribute Monday to the men and women who have died defending America, saying the country must strive "to be a nation worthy of your sacrifice."

He said the war in Iraq has ended after nine years and is "winding down" in Afghanistan. But he conceded that the pain of war lingers for the families of those lost in battle, noting mourners can be seen daily at Arlington National Cemetery daily, not just on Memorial Day.

"These 600 acres are home to Americans from every part of the country who gave their lives in every part of the globe," said the president, speaking under a brilliant sun before a large audience, including many uniformed servicemen and women, at the cemetery, after taking part in the traditional laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

The president promised war veterans that "we will be there for you," to ensure that troops returning home from battle get the benefits they deserve.

Preceding Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that "all the men and women who rest here are a constant reminder that freedom is not free." He noted that some 6,400 men and women have died defending America since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Obama was traveling later Monday to the Vietnam War Memorial to give special recognition to the troops who served and died in that war.

In this election year, Obama has been reminding his audiences about the end of the war in Iraq and the move to bring all troops home from Afghanistan by 2014. In a campaign aid released last week, he credits U.S. servicemen who helped in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

With so many troops returning home from their service, Obama says the U.S. needs to return the favor.

"We have to serve them and their families as well as they have served us," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "By making sure that they get the health care and benefits they need; by caring for our wounded warriors and supporting our military families; and by giving veterans the chance to go to college, find a good job and enjoy the freedom that they risked everything to protect."

The White House said the gathering at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial War would mark the beginning of a 13-year program to honor those who served during the Vietnam War.

Republican Mitt Romney was scheduled to appear Monday with Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, in San Diego, home to a large number of military personnel and veterans. Romney has made the case that too many veterans are returning home to poor job prospects, casting blame on Obama's economic policies.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics report in March found that 12.1 percent of U.S. Armed Forces veterans who served on active duty after September 2001 were unemployed in 2011. The unemployment rate for all veterans was 8.3 percent.

Veterans could play a significant role in the 2012 election. Exit polls in 2008 showed that Obama was supported by about 44 percent of voters who said they served in the military, while 54 percent voted for McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam War.

A poll released Monday by Gallup found that 58 percent of veterans support Romney and 34 percent back Obama. The results were based on a sample of 3,327 veterans who are registered voters and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Several closely watched states in the election have large blocs of military voters. Florida, home to several military installations, has more than 1.6 million veterans, according to the Veterans Administration. Pennsylvania has nearly 1 million veterans, while Virginia and North Carolina each have about 800,000 veterans living in their states.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama started the day with a breakfast at the White House for families who have lost loved ones in combat.



Obama lays wreath at Tomb of the Unknowns on Memorial Day

President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in observance of Memorial Day Monday.

The president, joined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, delivers remarks following the traditional wreath-laying ceremony.

Earlier in the day, Obama hosted a breakfast along with first lady Michelle Obama at the White House in honor of Gold Star families.

The Obamas and Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, will also attend an event at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the war.

“This month, we’ll begin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, a time when, to our shame, our veterans did not always receive the respect and the thanks they deserved — a mistake that must never be repeated," the president said in a statement circulated by the White House.


View Arlington National Cemetery in a larger map


Sources: AOL, AP, CBS News, Huffington Post, The Hill, Google Maps

Ted Kennedy's Health Care Dream Came True Today, Patrick Leaves Note On His Grave

Patrick Kennedy Leaves Note On Ted's Gravesite: "Dad, The Unfinished Business Is Done"



The political odyssey of health care reform in many ways is the story of Ted Kennedy, and as President Obama signed the historic bill into law Tuesday, Kennedy's gravesite was a place of quiet celebration and poignant reflection.

The late senator's widow, Vicki Reggie Kennedy, spent hours on Sunday at the simple white cross at Arlington National Cemetery marking where her husband was laid to rest only seven months ago. Ted Kennedy's youngest son, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), visited on Monday morning and left a hand-written note that read: "Dad, the unfinished business is done."

And on a dreary Tuesday morning, dozens of school children and health care advocates paused at Kennedy's tombstone to commemorate the man who for decades made overhauling the nation's health-care system his life's mission.

Kennedy's legacy was not lost on anyone who filled the East Room of the White House for Obama's bill-signing ceremony. Members of Congress wore blue "TedStrong" wristbands in his honor and posed for pictures with Patrick Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy, the senator's niece, sat in the front row, with other members of the storied family. Vicki Kennedy walked into the room with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Obama received a thunderous applause when he evoked the ghost of Ted Kennedy near the climax of his speech.

"I remember seeing Ted walk through that door in a summit in this room a year ago, one of his last public appearances, and it was hard for him to make it, but he was confident that we would do the right thing," Obama said.

When Obama sat to sign the bill, Patrick and Vicki Kennedy stood behind him. Finally, Ted Kennedy's dream became the law of the land.






Shame Ted Kennedy Wasn't Around To See Health Care Reform Dream Fulfilled


His clan seemed to suffer another cruel twist of fate as Sen. Edward Kennedy lay buried beside his murdered brothers while the critical fight for what he called the cause of his life raged in the Capitol within view of his grave.

Then, just as the fight came to where it would be won or lost, just when he was needed most, his spirit seemed to swoop down across the Potomac to the White House and the President he had declared to be the true inheritor of his brother John's legacy.

It was not the spirit of John so much as of Edward that spurred Obama to cease seeking to conciliate and again speak with actual passion about what was really at stake in health care reform.

"If you think that somehow it's okay we have millions of hardworking Americans who can't get health care and it's all right, it's acceptable, in the wealthiest nation on Earth that there are children with chronic illnesses that can't get the care that they need - then you should vote 'no' on this bill," he told the Democratic congressional caucus on Saturday.

Otherwise, he told them, they should vote "yes," whatever the political pressures.

"Every once in a while, a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country."

The Kennedy spirit was joined by echoes of Lincoln.

"We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine."

Passion became action and even the "pro-life" Democrats who held out for a last-minute deal were really just looking for a way to join in making history.

Some say the bill Obama will sign today did not go far enough, but Kennedy would be cheering it as a big step forward after so many frustrating and disheartening years of going nowhere at all.

"The shame is he wasn't around to see it," Dr. Jack Geiger said yesterday. "Even though he's gone, he deserves a lot of the credit because he was the one who kept this alive for year after year."

Geiger speaks as a doctor who co-founded a community health clinic in a tough part of Boston that first inspired Kennedy to embrace the cause back in 1966. Geiger and his co-founder, Dr. Count Gibson, had been medical workers with the civil rights movement down South.

Kennedy immediately understood when he visited this clinic up North that the principle behind it was that health care is no less a matter of justice.

"He spent most of his time talking to the patients," Geiger recalled. "Yeah, he wanted to understand the concept and the structure, but he was most interested in the effect it had on the people."

Kennedy later spoke of meeting women who otherwise had to ride the bus three hours to the nearest medical facility and then wait in long lines with no place even for the pregnant ones to sit. He said the clinic was "where it all started," where he embarked on "the cause of my life."

Kennedy kept up the fight through his final hours. The struggle was then left without its most passionate and untiring champion, and Geiger was among those who worried all might be lost.

As the decisive moment neared, Obama filled with that spirit as surely as if it swooped down from across the river.

The doctor who helped kindle that passion in Kennedy decades ago now lives in Brooklyn. He has no doubt Kennedy would be a deeply happy warrior today.

"He'd want more, and if he'd been around we would have gotten more, but it's a real start," Geiger said. "At last!"


View Larger Map

Sources: Washington Post, NY Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps

Pres. Obama's Veterans Day Speech

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sources: MSNBC

The Liberal Lion, Soul Of The Democratic Party & Family Rock Is Laid To Rest Amongst His Slain Brothers....Pres. Obama's Eulogy

MSNBC----


(In a eulogy to Ted Kennedy, President Obama remembers Kennedy as one who used his hardship to become more sensitive to the plights of others.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(The late Mass. lawmaker was buried on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery alongside slain brothers John and Robert. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(The Kennedy clan pays a final tribute to their "General" and rock.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest alongside slain brothers John and Robert on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday evening, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.

Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of a political era — outside Kennedy's funeral in rainy Boston, and later in the day in humid, late-summer Washington. With flags over the Capitol flying at half-staff in his memory, his hearse stopped outside the Senate where he served for 47 years.

"Go now, to your place of rest. And meet the Lord, your God," said the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, the House chaplain.

A few miles away, Kennedy's freshly excavated gravesite was on a gently sloping Virginia hillside, flanked by a pair of maple trees. His brother Robert, killed in 1968 while running for president, lies 100 feet away. It is another 100 to the eternal flame that has burned since 1963 for John F. Kennedy, president when he was assassinated.

Kennedy died Tuesday at 77, more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

One son, Patrick, wept quietly as another son, Teddy Jr., spoke from the pulpit of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston. Teddy Jr. recalled the day years ago, shortly after losing a leg to cancer, that he slipped walking up an icy driveway as he headed out to go sledding. "I started to cry and I said, `I'll never be able to climb up that hill,'" the son said.

"And he lifted me up in his strong, gentle arms and said something I will never forget. He said, `I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do.'"

Rain beat down steadily as Kennedy's coffin was borne by a military honor guard into the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and again when it was brought back out for the flight to Washington and the military cemetery in Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington.

In life, the senator had visited the burial ground often to mourn his brothers, John and Robert, killed in their 40s, more than a generation ago, by assassins' bullets.

"He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow," Obama said in a eulogy that also gently made mention of Kennedy's "personal failings and setbacks."

As a member of the Senate, Kennedy was a "veritable force of nature," the president said. But more than that, the "baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its rock."

Those left behind to mourn "grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive" Obama said inside the packed church.

Hundreds lined nearby sidewalks, ignoring the rain, as the funeral procession passed.

"I said to myself this morning, 'No matter what the weather, I'm going, I don't care if I have to swim," said Lillian Bennett, 59, who added she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and determined to get as close as she could to the invitation-only funeral.

"The Mass of Christian burial weaves together memory and hope," said the Rev. Mark R. Hession, parish priest at the church in a working class neighborhood of Boston.

Part of history

There was plenty of both in a two-hour service filled with references to Kennedy's political accomplishments and personal recollections of his private life. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and tenor Placido Domingo provided musical grace notes.

Kennedy's widow, Vicki, his sole surviving sibling, Jean, and Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, carefully arranged the cloth funeral pall atop the coffin.

Like others, Teddy Jr., touched on his father's legacy.

"He answered Uncle Joe's call to patriotism, Uncle Jack's call to public service and Bobby's determination to seek a newer world. Unlike them, he lived to be a grandfather," he said.

Joseph Kennedy Jr. died in World War II, John F. Kennedy was the nation's 35th president when he was assassinated in 1963 and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was killed five years later as he campaigned for the presidency.

Saturday's events marked the end of four days of public and private mourning meant to emphasize Kennedy's 47 years in the Senate from Massachusetts, his standing as the foremost liberal Democrat of the late 20th century yet a legislator who courted compromise with Republicans, a family man and last heir to a dynasty that began in the years after World War II.

Thousands of mourners filed past his flag-draped coffin earlier in the week when Kennedy lay in repose at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. Republicans and Democrats alike recalled his political career in a bipartisan evening of laughter-filled speechmaking on Friday.

Even the church had special meaning for the family. Kennedy prayed there daily several years ago during his daughter Kara's successful battle with lung cancer.

Bi-partisan Memorial

Friday night, Kennedy was remembered at a bipartisan memorial service whose speakers included Sens. John McCain and John Kerry, Vice President Joe Biden and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, JFK's daughter.

"Now Teddy has become a part of history," said Schlossberg, "and we are the ones who will have to do all the things he would have done, for us, for each other and for our country."

Saturday's ceremony evoked the funerals of Kennedy's slain brothers. It was at RFK's rites in 1968 that Edward Kennedy famously memorialized Robert.

"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

Sources: MSNBC

Thousands Of Bostonians & Many Others Pay Last Respects To The Liberal Lion

MSNBC----


(Crowds lined the route of a motorcade that carried the casket of the late Senator Ted Kennedy on from the family's Cape Cod compound to the city of Boston Thursday, where the Senator's body will lie in repose for public viewing at the JFK Library through Friday. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Bostonians mourn one of their own.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Mourners filed by the casket of Sen. Edward Kennedy as he lay in repose Thursday in his slain brother's presidential library, paying their respects to one of the longest-serving U.S. lawmakers and the last political giant of the Kennedy family.

Thousands of people had waited for the public viewing at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, lining up for hours before the doors opened around 6 p.m. ET. Officials were allowing people to enter in groups of 35 to 40.

The casket arrived after a motorcade traveled 70 miles from the family compound in Cape Cod past sites of significance to his life. Thousands of people along the route cheered as the motorcade drove through Boston, bidding farewell to the last of the famed Kennedy brothers and mark the end of a national political chapter that was both triumphant and tragic. He is to be buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, near Washington, D.C.

With a bugler playing taps, a rifle squad firing a salute and pallbearers representing each branch of the military, Kennedy will be laid to rest in a private funeral. Plans call for Kennedy to be buried in early evening near his slain brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

The motorcade started its trip in Hyannis Port, at the Cape Cod home where Kennedy's family attended a private Mass. Eighty-five Kennedy relatives traveled with the senator's body to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, where the Senate's third-longest-serving member will lie in repose.

Among those accompanying Kennedy were nieces Caroline, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, and Maria Shriver, daughter of his late sister Eunice; and his son Patrick Kennedy, a U.S. congressman.

Kennedy's body will lie in repose for a two-day public viewing. A contingent of friends and family sat vigil, including a federal judge, the family of an Iraq war soldier, a Sept. 11 widow, former staffers, and longtime friends.

For many who lined the route that the hearse carrying his body took from Cape Cod to Boston, it was hard to untangle Kennedy’s larger-than-life role as statesman from his role as neighbor and local celebrity, whether he was taking a turn conducting the Boston Pops or throwing out the first pitch for the Red Sox.

“It was Teddy’s home team. It just seemed appropriate to leave him the cap,” said James Jenner, 28, placing a Sox cap he was wearing near the entrance to the library. “It symbolizes everything that he loved about his home state and everything he was outside the Senate.”

Before the motorcade departed, mourners crowded the end of the barricaded road leading to the family compound.

Virginia Cain, 54, said she walked about 2 miles from her summer home in Centerville so she could watch the procession and witness history.

“I can remember where I was when President Kennedy died, and I’ll remember where I was when the senator left Hyannis Port,” she said.

A bouquet of white and yellow lilies lay on the lawn of David Nylan’s vacation rental near the Kennedy home, where a U.S. flag flew at half-staff in Kennedy’s memory.

“The Kennedys and Hyannis and the Cape, they just kind of go hand in hand,” said Nylan, 38, who said people had been stopping near his house to leave flowers since Kennedy died late Tuesday.

On Main Street in downtown Hyannis, flags, flowers and personal notes lay at the base of a flagpole outside the John F. Kennedy Museum, where about two dozen people gathered.

Someone had placed an old Kennedy campaign sign with a new inscription: “God bless Ted, the last was first,” referring to his ascension to political greatness after his two older brothers were assassinated.

Several enlarged photos showed events in Kennedy’s life — meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., reading to a school girl. A rosary hung over a picture of Kennedy standing in his office.

Echoes of the Kennedy history were hard to miss as the motorcade traveled through the city.

Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, put her hand over her heart as the procession rolled down Hanover Street in the North End neighborhood, past St. Stephen’s Church, where his mother, Rose, was baptized and where Kennedy later eulogized her. The crowd applauded, and his niece Caroline and other family members acknowledged them with a wave from their cars.

“When a member of the Kennedy family passes, it’s like family. It feels like family,” said Jeanne Pagano, 54, who was on the sidewalk outside the church. “I really loved the man and the family. I loved them.”

Joanne Caruso, of Newton, picked up her sons — 12-year-old Tonino and 9-year-old Christian Sarandrea — early from summer camp to say goodbye to Kennedy. The boys carried a photo of their father, Antonio, with Kennedy.

“We get to be a part of a historic history, a historical moment,” Tonino said as they waited. “The day we went to see Mr. Kennedy.”

After leaving the church, the motorcade traveled across the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway created by the Big Dig highway project, which Kennedy helped shepherd through the Senate. The park occupies the same stretch of land once dominated by an elevated expressway named after John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, Rose’s father and a patriarch of the Kennedy-Fitzgerald clan.

Kennedy’s motorcade then paused at Faneuil Hall, where the historic bell rang 47 times — once for each of Kennedy’s years in the Senate.

From there the motorcade passed the Massachusetts Statehouse with its life-size statue of John F. Kennedy, which was opened to tourists Thursday for the first time since just after the Sept. 11 attacks.

There, too, onlookers watched silently, waiting for the motorcade to turn and pass 122 Bowdoin Street, where Kennedy opened his first office as an assistant district attorney and where President Kennedy lived while running for Congress in 1946.

People gather to pay respects
After passing by the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in the city’s Government Center complex, the motorcade headed to the library, where Kennedy’s body will lie in repose until his Saturday funeral. Just before arriving at the museum, the motorcade will pass the JFK stop on the city’s subway system.

Scott Howe, 46, and his 15-year-old son, Austin, from Laurel, Md., were among those gathering outside the library and planned to pay their respects to Kennedy on Thursday night.

“He seemed to really care about his constituents,” Scott Howe said. “The Kennedy family — despite the money they had, had a big streak of altruism.”

The family planned an invitation-only private memorial service for Friday evening at the library.

All the living presidents were expected to attend the funeral Mass on Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica — commonly known as the Mission Church — in Boston’s working-class Mission Hill neighborhood. President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver the eulogy.

Shortly before the Mass, 44 sitting senators and 10 former senators will be among a group of about 100 dignitaries who will pay their respects to Kennedy at the library before making their way to the church.

Included in the group is former Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, who pulled Kennedy from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed near Springfield, Mass., in June 1964. The pilot and a legislative aide were killed, and Kennedy suffered a broken back that caused him pain the rest of his life.

“The Impossible Dream,” Kennedy’s favorite song, from the musical “Man of La Mancha,” will be played at one of the services, according to the person familiar with the arrangements.

The city may soon have one more Kennedy landmark. Planning is already under way for a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his assassinated brothers — former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his slain brothers — former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.




View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Sen. Ted Kennedy To Join His Older Brothers At Arlington Cemetery On Saturday...Pres. Obama To Deliver Eulogy

MSNBC----



Kennedy Family statement:

Edward M. Kennedy — the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply — died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.

(As plans are made for Sen. Edward Kennedy’s funeral, his family and friends remember his life and legacy. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports from Hyannis Port, Mass.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A funeral Mass for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will be celebrated Saturday at a Boston church, and he will be buried later that day at Arlington National Cemetery near his slain brothers, former President John F. Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy died late Tuesday at age 77 after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer.

On Thursday morning, Kennedy's family will travel by motorcade with his body from their compound on Cape Cod, Mass., to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. His body will lie in repose there for public viewing on Thursday and Friday.

The Kennedys have planned a private memorial service at the library for Friday night, according to a schedule of events released by Kennedy's Senate office. Vice President Joseph Biden and Sens. John Kerry and John McCain will be among the speakers, The New York Times reported.

On Saturday morning, a funeral Mass for the late senator will be celebrated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica — commonly known as the Mission Church — in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. The 1,300-seat basilica on Tremont Street, built in the 1870s, was where Kennedy prayed frequently in 2003 while his daughter, Kara, successfully battled her own cancer.

"Over time, the Basilica took on special meaning for him as a place of hope and optimism," the family statement said.

President Barack Obama will speak at the Mass, according to the Times.

Slain brothers

Kennedy's body will be flown to Virginia for a 5 p.m. Saturday private burial service at Arlington, the famous hillside that is the final resting site of others from the storied clan, including former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

At the site of the eternal flame rest four Kennedy family members: the former president and his wife; their baby son, Patrick, who died after two days; and a stillborn child. Robert Kennedy's grave is a short distance away.

Edward Kennedy will be buried approximately 95 feet south of Robert's grave, NBC News reported.

"Senator Kennedy spent more days than most at Arlington visiting the graves of his beloved brothers and paying tribute to the fallen men and women of Massachusetts who gave their lives for our country," the family statement said.

Final resting place

A senior defense official told the AP the Kennedy family approached the Army some time ago to explore the possibility of burying the senator at Arlington, the nation's most celebrated burial ground of fallen military and the resting place of astronauts, Supreme Court justices and other giants in American history.

Kennedy is eligible for burial at Arlington by virtue of his service in Congress as well as his two years in the Army, 1951 to 1953. He was a private first class and served in the military police at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, then located in Paris and now in Belgium.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to educational programming at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The family has set up a Web site in memory of Kennedy where people can post their memories.

In a separate tribute, Obama has ordered that flags fly at half-staff on federal buildings and at the White House in Kennedy's memory.


View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, CBC News

Pres. Obama Remembers Fallen Military Heroes at Arlington National Cemetery....Encourages a Moment of Silence @ 3:00 pm

"The best of America.".....President Barack Obama, May 25, 2009, Arlington VA.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, Flickr, Google Maps