Monitor 150th Anniversary - The Lost Monitor Boys

Join us in a Tweet Chat on Feb. 27 from 2-3 p.m. EST with David Alberg, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent, to learn about the upcoming burial of the two USS Monitor sailors that were recovered from the ship's turret in 2002. Please use #ussmonitor in your tweets.
Join us here @sanctuaries.

In 2002, the sailors were discovered inside the Civil War ironclad's gun turret when it was recovered from the ocean floor. For the last decade, the sailors' remains have resided at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Central Identification Lab in Hawaii. However, in February, Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, released the remains for burial.

Resources

About the Sailors

Discovery of Remains

Personal Artifacts

Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

Navy Press Release

Arlington National Cemetery

Fast Facts

The unknown sailors were lost along with 14 of their shipmates when Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C., on Dec. 31, 1862.

All 16 sailors will be memorialized on a group marker in section 46 of the cemetery, which is between the amphitheater and the USS Maine Mast memorial.

The specific date of the interment was chosen to recognize the Monitor's role in the Battle of Hampton Roads 151 years ago. It is Navy custom and tradition to honor the service member's final resting place by conducting an official burial ceremony. The chapel service is by invitation only.

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is both the most hallowed burial ground of our Nation's fallen and one of the most visited tourist sites in the Washington, DC, area. A fully operational national cemetery since May 1864, Arlington National Cemetery conducts an average of 27 funerals each workday--final farewells to fallen heroes from the fronts of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to veterans of World War II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam and the Cold War and their family members.

The grounds of Arlington National Cemetery honor those who have served the nation and their families by providing a sense of beauty and peace. The rolling green hills are dotted with trees (some that are older than the cemetery itself), monuments and gardens throughout the 624 developed acres of the cemetery. This impressive landscape serves as a tribute to the service and sacrifice of every individual and their families laid to rest within the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.

arlington cemetery