Remembering Barbara AKA the Plant Pixie
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Clifton, VA
Remembering Barbara AKA the Plant Pixie
As the remembering thread seems to be closed I will post this here: :
My wife Barbara died on 28 September 2022. On this site her screen name was Plant Pixie. On 20 February 24 after a seventeen month wait her remains in an urn will be placed in the Columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery. Yes they have that much of a backlog. It is my understanding that the only reason that she and me are eligible to be placed in the Columbarium at the Arlington National Cemetery is that I am a decorated Army veteran that was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for my service at the Pentagon in 1972. Otherwise, we would have had our remains placed in some other National Cemetery.
There is a bit of an irony about this. In May of 1971 I was selected (based on my test scores) for a TDY assignment at the Pentagon. I lived in a WWII Era barracks on South Post Fort Myer. Which is directly across RT 27 from the Pentagon. In the morning I would walk to work at the Pentagon by walking through the pedestrian tunnel that went under RT 27 to the Pentagon. Then enter via the Mall Entrance to room 2D736. After my TDY assignment was over (as our classified mission was accomplished) I was permanently assigned to a newly formed group at the Pentagon*. In the fall of 1971 they demolished South Post Fort Myer to make room for the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery. They moved me up to the Tri-service barracks on North Post Fort Myer.
The irony is: That where the Columbarium is pretty much exactly where the WWII era barracks that I live in back then is where I will be when I "kick the bucket". So I will pretty much have gone "full circle" in one way.
* I became one of the original four members of the Army's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Control Division on the day that President Nixon gave the military thirty days to come up with a world wide urine analysis testing program to test returning troops for drug use and ninety days to develop a program as to how to treat them as in setting up "half way houses" That is an interesting story if anyone wishes to learn about how I became the first enlisted person to ever go on an Department of the Army Inspector Generals tour.
My wife Barbara died on 28 September 2022. On this site her screen name was Plant Pixie. On 20 February 24 after a seventeen month wait her remains in an urn will be placed in the Columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery. Yes they have that much of a backlog. It is my understanding that the only reason that she and me are eligible to be placed in the Columbarium at the Arlington National Cemetery is that I am a decorated Army veteran that was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for my service at the Pentagon in 1972. Otherwise, we would have had our remains placed in some other National Cemetery.
There is a bit of an irony about this. In May of 1971 I was selected (based on my test scores) for a TDY assignment at the Pentagon. I lived in a WWII Era barracks on South Post Fort Myer. Which is directly across RT 27 from the Pentagon. In the morning I would walk to work at the Pentagon by walking through the pedestrian tunnel that went under RT 27 to the Pentagon. Then enter via the Mall Entrance to room 2D736. After my TDY assignment was over (as our classified mission was accomplished) I was permanently assigned to a newly formed group at the Pentagon*. In the fall of 1971 they demolished South Post Fort Myer to make room for the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery. They moved me up to the Tri-service barracks on North Post Fort Myer.
The irony is: That where the Columbarium is pretty much exactly where the WWII era barracks that I live in back then is where I will be when I "kick the bucket". So I will pretty much have gone "full circle" in one way.
* I became one of the original four members of the Army's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Control Division on the day that President Nixon gave the military thirty days to come up with a world wide urine analysis testing program to test returning troops for drug use and ninety days to develop a program as to how to treat them as in setting up "half way houses" That is an interesting story if anyone wishes to learn about how I became the first enlisted person to ever go on an Department of the Army Inspector Generals tour.
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Joined: Oct 2009
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From: Ontario Canada
A great way to remember a special person in your life, a very nice post. I hope you can some day sense your wife in your presence - if you haven't already - it is a very uplifting experience when it happens to me and I hope others can experience it as I have. God bless, may she RIP
