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October 2025 (Part 03)

Col Banning's Internment Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery

The University of Missouri's alumni associations sent out a call to members near DC that a Missouri alumni and Vietnam veteran, who had passed without family and few friends, was being buried in Arlington.  So, we volunteered to attend the ceremony, joining only one person who knew him.  The others were from his fraternity, who had sent out a call for members in DC to attend.  The Missouri Congressman also sent someone.

Col Michael Banning had earned the Silver Star and Air Cross in Vietnam, apparently as a helicopter pilot.

We assumed his plot would be in the newer areas of the cemetery, so were very surprised when we arrived at a spot just down the hill from Arlington House.  Looking down, Steve did a double take when he realized the grave he was looking at belonged to Wild Bill Donovan, the founder of the OSS during World War 2.  Clearly he was buried next to his wife, son, and a brother.  Unsure how this was the location.  We assume the Silver Star and the fact he was cremated, which allowed them to add a plot close to a tree in Plot 2.