Following up from my midterm review, I received a copy of the input from my presentation. This information was quite helpful, and I plan to focus on listed strengths while addressing areas for improvement. One piece of information I discovered about both men was their burial sites; as a Medal of Honor recipient, Schonland is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but McCandless chose instead to be buried at USNA's graveyard on Hospital Point, and his son elected to be buried next to him. Over the weekend, I found myself near Hospital Point and decided to track down their headstones. It took a fair amount of time to locate them (although I discovered the graves of many legendary Naval officers like Arleigh Burke, Elmo Zumwalt, John McCain, James Lovell, Wade McClusky, Wesley Brown, and Ernest King in the process), but I was able to find and photograph their headstones. Observing the final resting place of these two legends in the Naval community was an emotional and humbling experience, as I was able to witness the gravesite of the men I spent so much time familiarizing myself with. I'm thankful that they were buried together, in sight of the college they studied at and the water they served on, and surrounded by people as devoted to the U.S. Navy as they were. The two McCandless headstones sit next to each other. Bruce McCandless Sr's has a special marking indicating that he earned the Medal of Honor, and lists his rank alongside his other medals and an indication that he served in WWII. I noticed that most headstones from the early history of USNA's graveyard followed this format (many were marked simply "infant," which was truly puzzling for a military cemetery. I think this might be due to deaths in childbirth at the former Naval Health Clinic on Hospital Point). Conversely, his son's headstone follows the more modern format of designing unique headstones to fit individual accomplishments: in his case, Naval astronaut wings. I found it especially touching that, in addition to featuring their wedding date, the McCandless' headstone features the astronaut device next to his wife's name to show her affiliation to the space program as a civilian.
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Mary Ellen Carsley
3/2/2022 07:23:51 am
A moving blog post, Alex! Don't forget to keep up with your blog posts though. Looking forward to seeing what your plan for Spring Break is. Be sure to meet with your mentor before the break to work this out. Keep up the strong effort and good work! Be sure to post your Mid Term Presentation. See you at next Thursday's Fellows lunch!
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Alex BreniaMy name is Alex Brenia, and I am a senior at Severn School. I am passionate about military history and service to veterans, as I come from a military family. I see this project as a unique opportunity to combine both of these interests, within the scope of the Severn community as a whole. Archives
September 2021
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