Robert Joins His Brother

In a story replete with tragic irony, the speech Robert Kennedy gave the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated stands out even so. It fell to Robert to break the news to a crowd in a predominately black Indianapolis neighborhood that Dr. King was dead. Quoting from the Greek playwright Aeschylus, Robert acknowledged the crowds anger and added, in a rare personal confession, that he had felt the same at his brother's death. Perhaps in no small part to Kennedy's eloquence and empathy, Indianapolis was spared the violence that tormented so many other American cities that night.

Little did he or the crowd know that in many ways he was writing his own epitaph. In barely two months, Sen. Robert Kennedy would also fall to an assassin's bullet, just as his Presidential campaign was gathering steam. Like his brother's death five years before, plans for his death were hurriedly put together in the midst of the nation's grief.

If they had thought of it before, the Kennedy family had assumed Robert would be buried in Massachusetts. However, with his brother resting in Arlington, the consensus was not to separate the two brothers in death. Robert had briefly enlisted as a Seaman Apprentice in the Navy in 1943, where he served on the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., named for his oldest brother who had died in World War II. As a military veteran, as well as a member of Congress and former Attorney General, he was eligible for internment in Arlington.

Despite the military nature of his final resting place, Robert's wife Ethel asked that his funeral and accompanying events be without the trappings of military ceremonies. This was in stark contrast to the heavily military state funeral of President Kennedy. The only request made by the family, other than the location of the grave, was for a honor guard of Special Forces soldiers to be provided at the funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The Kennedy's had shared a special relationship with the Special Forces community, and it had been John who had authorized the distinctive green berets to be worn, which up to that point had been frowned upon officially. Special Forces soldiers had been highly visible at his funeral, and the 1st Special Forces Group had added a black border to it's yellow flash in recognition of the President's assassination.

Following the funeral in New York, the intention was for a special train to take the Senator's remains to DC and, ultimately, Arlington National Cemetery. However, due to the large number of mourners lining the railroad right of way, the train did not arrive until 9:09 pm at Union Station. Following a precession that stopped briefly at the Department of Justice (recently renamed for RFK) and the Lincoln Memorial, the procession arrived late in the evening at the Cemetery. Using candles rushed over from Ft. Myer's and St. Matthew's Cathedral, the family, close aides, and friends of laid Robert to rest a hundred feet from his brother. It was perhaps the most unique funeral ever at Arlington, with a minimum of military trappings, the only one held at night, and with the Harvard University Band playing "America the Beautiful".

The uniqueness of the ceremony was carried over into the design of the grave. Per the request of his family, Robert Kennedy is marked not by a grave of stone or bronze, but by a white painted wooden cross and a simple stone foot stone, engraved only with his name and his years of birth and death. I'm used to saying that it's the only wooden marker here in Arlington, but as of five days ago, I'm no longer correct.

As with his brother, with the luxury of time, the grave site was enlarged, with a granite plaza providing a viewing area. The work was designed by the firm of I.M. Pei, whose known for, among many other things, the design of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. The design retains the simplicity of the white wooden cross, but adds a somber water feature, as well as inscriptions from RFK's speeches, including the landmark one in Indianapolis, given just two months before he came here.