Unknown soldier

 

April 23, 2021



One of the most famous monuments in Washington, D.C. is the tomb of the unknown soldier. It will be good to review how this memorial came to be and why it carries such significance in the history of our nation.

It began with a bill proposed by the founding leader of the American Legion, Rep. Hamilton Fish III, that would return the remains of an American soldier, unidentified but interred in France during World War I.

One chosen of four exhumed on October 24, 1921, the body returned to American soil aboard the USS Olympia. After lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda, the soldier’s remains were interred in the tomb under the supervision of Allied Generals and President Warren G. Harding.

Two more unknowns were selected from World War II, one from the European Theater and one from the Pacific. One was chosen for interment and the other buried at sea. The next ceremony honored that veteran and one from the Korean War on May 30, 1958. The Vietnam unknown was later identified by DNA testing and reinterred in St. Louis. That tomb remains empty today.

The tombs are guarded 24/7 by an elite corps called Society of the Honor Guard, of which there have been only 700 members since 1921. The Tomb’s centennial is this year and activities are planned, if the pandemic allows, for Nov. 9-10.

Technology has all but eliminated the unknown, but there are still 81,700 missing in action from World War I to the present.

 

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