Group shares teacher’s visit to grandfathers’ grave
During a field trip to Washington, D.C., students from Our Lady of the Assumption School had the privilege of placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Arlington National Cemetery. CHARLOTTE — A class trip turned into an emotional and personal encounter with history for eighth-grade students and a teacher from Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte as they got to do something normally done by presidents and dignitaries: placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Twenty-seven students along with staff and faculty members visited Washington, D.C., on a whirlwind three-day tour beginning March 30 that took them to several museums, nine monuments,
the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Arlington National Cemetery.
At Arlington, several students were able to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, described by many as the most hallowed grave on U.S. soil. It is the burial site of unidentified service members who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week by soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as “The Old Guard.”
Individuals, veteran’s organizations, school groups and others can apply to lay wreaths at the tomb. It involves a moving ceremony that includes guidance from a Tomb Guard and the playing of taps. By laying a wreath, the eighth-graders followed in the footsteps of U.S. presidents and other high-profile dignitaries who have also placed wreaths there.
Auggie Kojis, 13, was one of the students who placed the wreath.
While at Arlington, second-grade teacher James Moore visited the grave of his grandfather, Michael Ramon Silva, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
“Just to be at Arlington and see all of these graves that represented all these lives that have defended our country made me really emotional,” Kojis said.
While visiting Arlington, second-grade teacher James Moore took time to pause and reflect at the grave of his grandfather, Michael Ramon Silva, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
Moore said he knew his grandfather while growing up in California and made the trip to Arlington when Silva was buried there in 2020. However, he had not seen the headstone with his grandfather’s information on it until this trip.
The inscription on the headstone includes “2 Timothy 4:7,” a Bible verse written by St. Paul when he was imprisoned that reads, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
“It was really nice to be able to see the headstone for the first time,” he said. “It was also great to have that moment to share with the students. This was a good way for them to make the connection with history, to realize that these were real people with real families, and that their service for our country impacted other people. This headstone was connected with me, someone they actually know.”
Lindsay Palma-Salmeron, 14, who placed the wreath with Kojis, was moved by the chance to see Silva’s grave.
“We’re all like a big family at this school, so seeing him visit his grandfather and getting to learn about him was very special,” she said.
Students were also awestruck by the visit to the basilica, where they attended Mass and visited its many chapels. They also saw chairs used by former popes when they visited, as well as the 1963 papal coronation tiara of Pope Paul VI, which was gifted to the United States in 1968 and is the only papal tiara on permanent display outside the Vatican.
— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos provided