The American flag flutters at half-staff more often than not at one of the nation’s top tourist spots, and the mournful strains of “Taps” is likely to arouse conflicting emotions in visitors’ hearts. Is it sorrow they should feel, or pride for the heroes buried there?

More than 285,000 people have been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Across its rolling hills stand the unadorned headstones of veterans from the Revolutionary War to the current struggle in Iraq and Afghanistan.