Tombstone Tuesday: Graves of Memphis

My family and I are on vacation this week.  We made a two-day stop in Memphis, Tennessee on our way to our final destination, and, not surprisingly, I have photos of gravestones to share.  And, although these graves have nothing to do with my or my husband's family histories, I still found them fascinating.

Our first destination was Graceland, former home of the late Elvis Presley.  Towards the end of the tour, we were able to view his family's burial plot on the grounds of the estate.  Neither me nor my husband are fanatical Elvis fans, but we do enjoy his music from time to time and we appreciate his strong influence on music history. The burial plot was beautiful, with a lovely, clear fountain, and a semi-circular pergola and brick wall with some really nice stained glass windows embedded in it.  

He is buried with his parents, Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Love Smith Presley, and his paternal grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley.  There is also a small memorial plaque dedicated to Elvis' twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, who was stillborn.  The tributes written on the plaques of each stone are just very endearing and you can tell they were written with love.  

The small print on Elvis' stone reads, "He was a precious gift from God we cherished and loved dearly.  He had a God-given talent that he shared with the world, and without a doubt, he became most widely acclaimed, capturing the hearts of young and old alike.  He was admired not only as an entertainer, but as the great humanitarian that he was; for his generosity, and his kind feelings for his fellow man.  He revolutionized the field of music and received its highest awards.  He became a living legend in his own time, earning the respect and love of millions. God saw that he needed some rest and called him home to be with Him. We miss you, Son and Daddy.  I thank God that He gave us you as our son.  By: Vernon Presley"

Later that evening, we took a drive to Memphis National Cemetery.  The weather was nice, and we wanted to spend some time outside so that the kids could walk and run around a little. (Yes, normal parents would probably look for a playground or park, but we're not normal :-))

Memphis National Cemetery

It was a good decision, because the kids enjoyed it and it was the first time they had ever been to a national cemetery.  We had to explain to them that these were the graves of people who served in the military and their family members.  My son tried to read some of the stones, but he needed help with some of the military abbreviations and state names.  My daughter found the graves with the prettiest flowers and wanted me to take photos of her next to them.  

We looked around at some of the graves, just kind of noting where these people were from and when they served in the Armed Forces. There isn't a whole lot of information on these small stones, but my husband found one that was particularly interesting and told a bigger story indicative of the time and place in which this man served.  Dale Moore was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and served in Korea and Vietnam.  He passed away at a relatively young age, possibly while on duty.  Buried with him is his wife, Yung Min Moore, a woman he evidently met while he was serving in the Far East.  She lived a good deal longer than her husband, but it doesn't appear that she remarried.  And the baby, born in 1962 - just tugs at your heartstrings.  

We were initially surprised to find large monuments for the states of Minnesota and Illinois, but not after we looked around and saw how many Civil War soldiers from those states were interred here. Once we got there, we also did a little reading about the cemetery (aren't smartphones wonderful?) and learned that this cemetery has the second-most number of 'unknown' interments of any national cemetery, with over 8,800 interments being unknown.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder