LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's return to Arlington National Cemetery, the site of quite a bit of activity today. CNN's Kate Snow is there to tell us what's going on right now -- Kate.</s>KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Leon. Memorial Day, very special here at Arlington National Cemetery because this is essentially where the holiday was born, back just after the Civil War. Four years after this place was established, they held the first official Memorial Day observance. At that time they called it Decoration Day, they decorated the graves here of Union soldiers with flowers. Well, that tradition somewhat continues up to this day. Now they decorate the graves every year with tiny American flags. They go out one night, in this case it was Thursday night, a few days ago, they came out here, about 900 Army soldiers canvassing the 600 acres of land here, placing the one tiny flag in front of each grave site, each head stone. It took them about 2 1/2 hours to complete the task, and there are about 250,000 people buried here. So you can imagine it is quite a task to decorate each one of these graves. Those flags will remain here throughout the day today. President Clinton, due here at 11:00 Eastern time this morning for a special ceremonial wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns, that's something that he does every year. After that he will address his remarks, Memorial Day remarks, and after that, tonight, later on, he is due to fly to Europe. Kate Snow, CNN, Arlington National Cemetery.</s>HARRIS: Thank you, Kate.
Graves at Arlington National Cemetery Decorated With American Flags for Memorial Day