By Tom Squitieri, Capital-Star Special
July 21, 2020
ARLINGTON, Va. – One of the worst winter storms in Washington, D.C., welcomed newly elected Congressman Don Bailey when he arrived at the U.S. Capitol to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 1979.
He said goodbye to her on Monday with a much nicer time.
Bailey, a former congressman and auditor general of Pennsylvania, as well as a decorated Vietnam veteran, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery Monday afternoon with blue skies, white clouds, and the hot, sweltering demands of a summer in DC.
However, as was typical of the moments of Bailey’s life, the fiery heat gave way to unforeseen breezes, waving the leaves of old oak trees over his grave in a privileged burial position in a segment of President John F. Kennedy.
“You can’t buy any positions at Arlington National Cemetery,” Army Captain Jason Phipps, the chaplain, said at Bailey’s ceremony. “It’s going to have to be deserved.”
Pennsylvania has added another three states to its quarantine list.
Bailey won his seat at Arlington for 15 months in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and for fighting for silver, 3 bronze and air medals, among other honors. When he joined Congress in 1979, he was the top decorated veteran in the House of Representatives.
Pennsylvania has added another three states to its quarantine list.
A burial site cannot be separated in Arlington and the location depends on the luck of the time and the type of burial. Bailey died on March 9, but due to newly imposed COVID-19 restrictions, daily burials slowed. He also lined up for what many saw as a more classic burial: a coffin on the ground.
When his turn came, a spot was open in Section 32, right below the Kennedy memorial and among veterans of all recent conflicts.
The segment is informally known as the John Dill Section, after British Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill. Dill, the highest-ranking foreign army officer buried in Arlington National Cemetery, died in Washington in World War II and there is an equestrian monument in his honor at the front of the segment.
Stafford Newell Ordahl, a World War II veteran and Korean, and Patrick Hurley, a veteran of the Persian Gulf, Grenada and Panama, and recipient of the Purple Heart, are buried to Bailey’s right. Buried to his left are Melvin Rosen, a World War II veteran, the Korean War and Vietnam who survived the Bataan march, and Jack Valenti, a World War II veteran who then led the Motion Picture Association of America.
“Each (main) stone is the foundation of America’s freedom,” Phipps said. “In life, he avened that flag. Now this flag honors it.”
It was a similar smart moment that helped Bailey launch his political career in 1977 and 1978.
He helped manage the candidacy of a maverick Democrat to make a judgment about a candidate in Westmoreland County in 1977, which he won. This race taught Bailey all the road aspects and small shopping spaces of groceries adorned with voters who were ignored through the other candidates. When Pennsylvania Congressman John Dent announced his retirement in 1978, Bailey and 10 other Democrats entered the feud with four Republicans.
“Vote Bailey, for Congress, a call you can trust. Honesty, integrity, with Bailey is a must,” said the first line of Don Bailey’s polka crusade, which participated in his instant rallies.
The perfect moment; those voters remembered Bailey last year and gave him 23% of the vote, enough for the Democratic nomination and his Congressional award ticket.
Before the November election, Bailey invited a stopover in north-central Pennsylvania, where House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill led a political demonstration. After O’Neill congratulated him on his victory, Bailey said, “Well, I’m a little more conservative than you, Tip.” The president played Bailey and then laughed and walked away, leaving his entourage stunned through the Bailey franchise.
This brutality has a trademark.
When Bailey arrived in Congress, he was 21 years old in the 25-member delegation of Pennsylvania, then a curious collection of disparate politicians without a rare purpose for the state.
Bailey discovered that he puts himself in school, paintings and armed services, and later on ethics and tactics committees. He succeeded in drafting tax breaks for the metal industry and drafting a legislative commitment that prevented Pennsylvania and other states from being forced to pay giant debts in their unemployment payment funds.
He also earned a reputation of speaking his mind and not averse to a good prank. For example, Pennsylvania Democratic House members used to congregate in the corner far to the right of the House Speaker podium. The area thus acquired the name of the Pennsylvania Corner.
Bailey nicknamed him Cherokee Corner, for reasons that continued to become for his amusement.
He didn’t object to mis calling those he thought either. His fondness for civil rights and equity provoked harsh words against Rep. John Murtha, the Democrat of Johnstown, when the two men clashed after the redistribution of districts that take pennsylvania two seats in Congress. Bailey lost that race and left Congress.
In Arlington, the chaplain noted that Bailey “had his roots in the civil rights fight.”
The candor and moderate philosophy of many of Bailey helped him earn the Democratic nomination as Pennsylvania Auditor General in 1984. He was the only Democrat to win in the entire state in 1984, the year Ronald Reagan left the vote. He just lost a democratic Senate nomination in 1986.
That bluntness caught up with him in Harrisburg, where he was ultimately disbarred for daring to say that there are federal Judges who were acting in a corrupt ways.
None of this was heard by the rifle salute, the farewell bugle and the applause of a folded flag in Arlington on Monday.
“The Arlington National Cemetery project to rest our country’s veterans and their families continues,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, Executive Director of the Arlington Army and National Cemetery Cemetery Office. “We take these proactive steps to protect the public, families, our staff and staff.
There were about 6290 funerals in Arlington in 2019. There have been 1,028 funerals since March 30, the first day of the funeral after the public close.
Concerns of COVID-19 have prompted changes. Up to 50 immediate family members are permitted to witness a ceremony. Families will have the option to postpone the arrangement to a later date. The regulations cover all of the roughly 140 national cemeteries — the final resting places for military veterans and their spouses.
Before COVID-19, there were about 1,400 army funerals each day in the United States.
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, historically known as the “Old Guard,” held the memorial service revered by Bailey on Monday. The Old Guard is the army’s oldest active-duty infantry unit, in service since 1784.
Tom Squitieri is a Washington D.C.-based freelance journalist. His work appears occasionally in the Capital-Star.
This story was originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. For more stories from the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, visit PennCapital-Star.com.
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