Marion and Veronica Ostdiek burials at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia (just across

the river from Washington D. C.) consists of 639 acres of land that at one time belonged to the wife of Robert E. Lee, who was a great-grandchild of George and Martha Washington. At the present time there are more than 400,000 graves at this location.

Last week Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, Arlington became the final resting place of former Nuckolls County resident and Lawrence native, Lt. Col. Marion Alphonse Ostdiek, retired, and his wife, a Wood River, Neb., native, Veronica Rowley Ostdiek.

Due primarily to the COVID pandemic, delays in burials at Arlington have been a common occurrence since the pandemic started in the United

States. Marion died on July 17, 2020 and Veronica died on July 12, 2021.

Because of the delays, it was possible to have the inurnments at the same time.

Many Ostdiek and Rowley family members were able to attend the burial

ceremony in Arlington last Monday. Although no exact figure is known, at

one time, there were 111 people registered to attend.

Marion graduated from the University of Nebraska and served four years

on active duty before leaving the Air Force to teach and coach high schools in Crawford, Rosalie and Lincoln, Neb.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Marion was recalled into active

duty to (as one of his children noted) "keep those jet fighters flying over Cuba to take photographs."

Marion went on to serve a total of 29 years of active duty. He and his family lived in various places in the U. S., but he also spent a good deal of time in the Panama Canal Zone and several tours of duty in Southeast Asia, living in Thailand and serving during the Viet Nam war area.

Upon retirement, Marion and Veronica lived in Florida to escape the cold weather. Marion died from COVID, after suffering three years of

dementia from exposure to Agent Orange in Viet Nam.

Veronica was a UNL graduate as well and taught English and was a drama club sponsor. In the military, much of Marion's time was spent as an

aircraft maintenance squadron commander with up to 1,100 troops assigned to him. (Again, according to her children) "In those days that meant Veronica, the commander's wife, had to organize and lead the other wives to take care of the troops whose families qualified for food stamps, and organize social events, etc. She received no pay and had her own four children to raise, and still found time to teach school."

Marion earned the recognition of the "Bronze Star" for his work in Southeast Asia. Upon his arrival in Thailand, (his first deployment there) it seemed over half of the fighter aircraft assigned there were not flying because of maintenance problems. After his year in that assignment, almost 100 percent of the aircraft were useable.

Arlington: For more than 150 years, Arlington National Cemetery has been one of the showcases of the nation's military cemeteries. Not too many years

ago, the criteria to be buried there were tightened. The basic criteria is to be a retired veteran from active duty and receiving retirement pay. Other criteria is: to die on active duty; a POW; or veteran earning certain Medals of Honor (all with the assumption of an honorable discharge). Arlington averages 27 to 30 burials a day, approximately 6,900 a year.

An attempt was made to determine if Marion and Veronica Ostdiek were

the only Nuckolls County residents buried in Arlington. We have learned

that Evelyn Bargen Moore was interred in Arlington in October 2019, next to her husband, Warren Moore.