Programs

Remembering Veterans In Section 60

Vermont Public | By Patti Daniels,

Published November 11, 2014 at 12:00 PM EST

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Section 60 is the plot in Arlington National Cemetery where many of the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. (Click for slide show.)

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A stone with the word "Son" written on it rests atop a grave stone in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

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AP Photo

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A flag is folded over the casket of Army Maj. Gen. Harold Greene during his burial service in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in August 2014. Greene is the highest-ranking U.S. military officer to be killed in America's post-9/11 wars.

Evan Vucci / AP

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A caisson holding the flag covered casket is taken to a burial site during a service at Arlington National Cemetery.

Alex Brandon / AP

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Amanda Justice of Grimes, Iowa, center, visits the grave of her husband Army Staff Sgt. James Justice in Section 60, who was killed in Afghanistan on April 23, 2011.

Evan Vucci / AP

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Former Army Sgt. Anthony Brown, 31, of Arlington, Va., wipes away tears as he visits the grave of his best friend, Army Sgt. Scott Kirkpatrick, on Memorial Day 2014.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

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Alison Malachowski, left, talks to Michael Frazer, who served in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps together with her son Marines Staff Sgt. James M. Malachowski. She became friends with author Robert Poole as he researched his book about Section 60.

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

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Jason Feimster, of Mocksville, N.C., lies by the grave of his friend, Marine Cpl. Carlos Melendez in Section 60.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

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Natasha Marshall, 22, of Frederick, Md., visits the grave of her friend and high school sweetheart Army Specialist Tyler Hammett, 21, in Section 60 on Memorial Day 2014.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

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A spontaneous prayer circle forms as people visit Section 60, where many of the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, on Memorial Day in 2014.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

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Gladys Mena, of Springfield, Va., center, places flowers on the grave of her nephew, Army Corporal Andy Anderson in Section 60.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

There is a section of Arlington National Cemetery where soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried. Section 60 has taken on a unique social and cultural identity within the cemetery, partly because the people who go their to mourn are so young, like the deceased soldiers themselves.

A man lies by the grave of his friend, in Section 60 at Arlington.

Our guest Robert Poole describes Section 60 as a place emotions are close to the surface, and where war where it hits you over the head every day. "People talk to the tombstones as if the people below ground could hear them," says Poole, "and it’s absolutely normal -- no one considers it weird in any way."

We talk with Robert Poole, the Vermont author of the new book, Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery, Where War Comes Home. In it, he tells the stories of U.S. military personnel killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, what their deaths reveal about these wars, and how these men and women are remembered by the living.

Broadcast live on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.