Public swarms Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day for the first time since the pandemic

Paula Davis sat in a portable chair at the gravesite of her only child on Monday and called out a greeting to a woman passing by.

“She’s my neighbor,” she said, referring to a nearby headstone in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. “Neighbor and friend.”

This is the 15th year that Davis, 67, of Gaithersburg, Md., has been coming here, and during that time, she has become close with others like her, people who have lost a child, a sibling, a spouse or a parent in the military.