Arlington National Cemetery meant to be 'neutral zone,' says military chaplain

Arlington National Cemetery remains at the center of controversy after one of its staff members tried to prevent former President Donald Trump’s team from filming and taking photos in the cemetery.

The incident occurred earlier this week, when Trump appeared at Arlington to observe the three-year mark since 13 U.S. service members were killed in a deadly attack in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal.

The cemetery is mostly reserved for deceased U.S. veterans from all military branches. The event Trump attended was held in Section 60, an area reserved for service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. Army, the military branch in charge of managing the grounds, says federal law and other regulations prohibit political activities at the cemetery.

The grounds are considered sacred and hallowed, and Rev. David Peters, a retired military chaplain and Episcopal priest who has conducted services at Arlington, said this is because the cemetery is meant to be a space set apart to remember those who died in service.

“It's kind of like a neutral zone for a lot of things like religious ideology and politics and other things, because we want to honor the way these young people served our country in a time of great conflict,” Peters said.

Peters is a veteran himself. He enlisted in the Marines, served as a chaplain in the Army and the Army Reserves, including at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, then in Washington, D.C.

When he heard of the Trump team’s altercation with an Arlington staff member, which NPR was first to report, Peters thought about the young troops buried in the cemetery.

“It reminded me of what those graves mean for all of us as Americans, that these young people went far away from their homes to serve