A Juneteenth Story
Last Tuesday, the 17th, I received an email marked Unclassified in my personal inbox.
Email with classified markings usually only comes from government sources and indeed this one was from a USARMY Pentagon HQDA account. The rest of the address wouldn’t fit in screen. I assumed it would be from the soldier transition program since I had retired in the last year.
I trusted the senders validity, but wasn’t interested enough to read the subject, thinking it was probably another survey. I opened it and this is what it said:
UNCLASSIFIED
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Arlington National Cemetery regarding the incorrect rank on Mingo Sander’s marker. I regret the error and thank you for bringing it to our attention. I have reordered the headstone to correct this. When the new headstone arrives, it will undergo a robust quality assurance process to ensure inscription accuracy and proper marble specifications. Typically, the headstones arrive and are installed within 60 to 90 days after they have been ordered. If a headstone were to arrive damaged or not pass the QA process, it would need to be reordered. Our current headstone pass rate is 95%. While I expect that there will be no issues, the possibility does exist.
Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient resources to make contact when every headstone is successfully installed. After the new headstone is placed, a digital photo will be taken and made available for viewing on our public website listed below. Please contact us if you have any further questions.
This is a notification that we are closing ticket # 471054.
Very Respectfully,
Quality Assurance Team
Arlington National Cemetery
Email: usarmy.pentagon.hqda-anc-osa.mbx.saac-dsu-qa@army.mil
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil
Photos of markers:
https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/
HONOR – REMEMBER – EXPLORE
UNCLASSIFIED
I read the subject line now, regretting not having done it before,
Arlington National Cemetery, Reorder Confirmation, Ticket 471054 – [UNCLASSIFIED]
I examined the entire email address looking for any indication of a phishing scheme,
usarmy.pentagon.hqda-anc-osa.mbx.saac-dsu-qa@army.mil
and then I read the email again.
I understood what it meant the first time but I was savoring the moment before announcing the victory with a shout and whoop jumping up off my couch. “I did it!” everyone looked up from what they were doing for a moment, and then went back to it again. Dad had done it again, whatever dad was up to now.
Seeing that my joy would not be shared until I made it clear, I shoved my phone in each of their faces and let them read it. “Do you know what this means?” I asked my wife as she read it.
“Yes,” she said, “That’s good. Why didn’t they let his family know?”
I was quick in saying, “He has none,” and then changed my answer, “We are his family.” We had worked together through sleepless nights researching, writing the book Buffalo Sergeant, and opening a case with Arlington National Cemetery to correct First Sergeant Sanders grave marker.
In a time when tearing down Civil War monuments, renaming bases, and the anti-anti-racism movement goes to war we received a written promise that justice would come. A Soldier would be at peace in the hallowed grounds of Arlington under a truthful marker not only recognizing him as a Sergeant in the black infantry but a First Sergeant who led men in combat and in protest against racism.
I hope that you can join me and keep vigil until that day when his new marker is complete and we can see it installed.