Fort Myer

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Fort Myer Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Orville Wright flying at Fort Myer, September 9, 1908
Location:	Arlington County, Virginia
Built/Founded:	1887
Architect:	US Army
Architectural style(s):	Late Victorian
Governing body:	United States Army
Added to NRHP:	November 28, 1972[1]
Designated NHLD:	November 28, 1972[2]
NRHP Reference#:	72001380

Fort Myer is a U.S. Army post adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It is a small post by U.S. Army standards, and has no ranges or field training areas.

The garrison command includes Fort Myer, Va. and Fort Lesley J. McNair, D.C. As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, Henderson Hall Marine Corps (Arlington, Va.) installation management functions have relocated to the Fort Myer Military Community. On October 1, 2009, the two installations will become known officially as Joint Base Myer – Henderson Hall.

The home of Army Chiefs of Staff for nearly a century, Fort Myer today is headquarters to service personnel working throughout the National Capital Region. Of note is that the first Chief of Staff of the Army moved into Fort Myer quarters in 1908, more than a century ago. Fort Myer traces its origin to the Civil War. Since then it has been an important Signal Corps post, a showcase for Army cavalry and the site of the first flight of an aircraft at a military installation.

Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Fort Myer was originally established as Fort Whipple, after Brevet Major General Amiel Weeks Whipple died during the American Civil War in 1863. It was renamed for Brigadier General Albert J. Myer in 1880, who established the Signal School of Instruction for Army and Navy Officers there in 1869. Fort Myer was the location of several exhibition flights by Orville Wright in 1908 and 1909. On September 18, 1908 it was the location of the first aviation fatality, as Lt. Thomas Selfridge was killed when on a demonstration flight with Orville, at an altitude of about 100 feet, a propeller split, sending the aircraft out of control. Selfridge was killed in the crash, the first person to die in powered fixed-wing aircraft. Orville was badly injured, suffering broken ribs and a leg. The brothers' sister Katharine, a school teacher, rushed from Dayton to Washington and stayed by Orville's side for the six weeks of his hospitalization. She helped negotiate a one-year extension of the Army's contract with the Wrights.

During World War I, Fort Myer was a staging area for a large number of engineering, artillery and chemical companies and regiments. The area of Fort Myer now occupied by Andrew Rader Health Clinic and the Commissary were made into a trench-system training grounds where French officers taught the Americans about trench warfare.

The Fort Myer Military Community provides housing, support and services to thousands of active-duty, reserve and retired Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, members of the U.S. Coast Guard and their families stationed in the National Capital Region. FMMC’s mission is to operate the Army’s showcase community and support Homeland Security in the nation’s capital. Fort Myer is the home of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing's Own” and the 1st Battalion of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, (The Old Guard)—except for 'A' Company (Commander in Chief's Guard), which is stationed at Fort McNair, D.C. The gravesite of Black Jack, the riderless horse in the state funerals of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson, is located on Summerall Field, 200 feet northeast of the parade ground's flagpole.

Fort Myer, due to its proximity to Arlington National Cemetery, is also the base of operations for most Services' Honor Guards and burial teams. A large percentage of burials in Arlington National Cemetery originate from Old Post Chapel, one of the two chapels on Fort Myer. Every weekday around noon, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines can all be seen eating lunch together at the post cafeteria as they take a break from the day's somber activities.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• official website

Coordinates: 38°52′49″N 77°04′47″W / 38.880343°N 77.079735°W / 38.880343; -77.079735

• Fort Myer Installation Overview from ArmyUSA.org.
• Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

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