One day in 1948, Gladys Vandenberg heard a disturbing story from her husband. General Hoyt Vandenberg told his wife how he happened to see an unattended funeral being conducted at Arlington National Cemetery. A fallen American airman was commended to eternity with only the chaplain and the honor guard to bear him; no family or friends had come to attend the ritual.

After hearing of this, Mrs. Vandenburg founded a committee of volunteers to attend burials at Arlington. Today, the “Arlington Ladies” attend every service, ensuring that that melancholy scene from 1948 will never be repeated.

Shawn Macomber wrote a profile of the Arlington Ladies for The American Spectator, and it was not an easy assignment. These selfless women volunteered to honor our country’s dead servicemen, not to be honored themselves, and they were not willing to brag to the reporter. There are over 160 active Arlington Ladies, and he had trouble getting any of them to talk to him. But Macomber persisted, and got some of them to describe the volunteer work they do. The resulting article is inspiring, and it’s online. (But don’t let that deter you from buying a copy of TAS or better yet, subscribing.)