Meanwhile, something else was happening in Washington D.C., not far from New York.
The United States had more than a hundred national cemeteries, but Arlington National Cemetery, located beside the Potomac River in the capital, Washington D.C., and famed for its green lawns and white crosses, was the most renowned of them all.
To rest there in Long Sleep was considered an honor for patriots.
At that moment, two sturdy men crossed Aton Bridge. Wearing hooded long-sleeved shirts, they entered Arlington Cemetery in the breeze off the Potomac River and strolled along the stone steps of Arlington Hill.
They walked slowly, pausing briefly before every gravestone, as though reading each American Dream story one word at a time.
Though it was a cemetery, it was as beautiful and tranquil as a park. Centered around Arlington Hill, the graves spread across slopes and flat ground, covering a total area of 2.48 square kilometers. Green grass lay everywhere, surrounded by trees.
By the 1990s, a total of 225,000 people rested here in Long Sleep. All the gravestones were arranged in a fan-shaped pattern, as if guarding the Stars and Stripes flying atop the cemetery hill.
Apart from the graves of famous figures such as George Washington, Parker Custis and his wife, General George Marshall, President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, General Pershing, General Halsey, and others,
the other graves knew no rank. Soldiers and officers of every level had only a single cross, all equal.
"We're looking the wrong way. Howard wouldn't let himself seem ordinary. A simple cross wouldn't satisfy him."
One of the two men spoke quietly to his companion. His dark, scruffy beard, weathered eyes, and shoulder-length hair that looked as though it had not been washed in ages made him look like a vagrant.
Yet every step