Commander

I've been lucky enough to see the tomb of the unknown soldier several times. Watching the changing of the guard is awesome and very impressive.

here's a little info about it


1921 : Unknown Soldier is selected

On October 23, 1921, in the French town of Chalons-sur-Marne, an American officer selects the body of the first "Unknown Soldier" to be honored among the approximately 77,000 United States servicemen killed on the Western Front during World War I.

According to the official records of the Army Graves Registration Service deposited in the U.S. National Archives in Washington, four bodies were transported to Chalons from the cemeteries of Aisne-Marne, Somme, Meuse-Argonne and Saint-Mihiel. All were great battlegrounds, and the latter two regions were the sites of two offensive operations in which American troops took a leading role in the decisive summer and fall of 1918. As the service records stated, the identity of the bodies was completely unknown: "The original records showing the internment of these bodies were searched and the four bodies selected represented the remains of soldiers of which there was absolutely no indication as to name, rank, organization or date of death."

The four bodies arrived at the Hotel de Ville in Chalons-sur-Marne on October 23, 1921. At 10 o’clock the next morning, French and American officials entered a hall where the four caskets were displayed, each draped with an American flag. Sergeant Edward Younger, the man given the task of making the selection, carried a spray of white roses with which to mark the chosen casket. According to the official account, Younger "entered the chamber in which the bodies of the four Unknown Soldiers lay, circled the caskets three times, then silently placed the flowers on the third casket from the left. He faced the body, stood at attention and saluted."

Bearing the inscription "An Unknown American who gave his life in the World War," the chosen casket traveled to Paris and then to Le Havre, France, where it would board the cruiser Olympia for the voyage across the Atlantic. Once back in the United States, the Unknown Soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

MrStoff1989

*Salutes* God bless you Unknown Soldier.

Belisarius

We have one too. Here's some information about ours. The stories are very similar.

The Reverend David Railton (1884-1955), a chaplain at the Front, first had the idea of such a burial, when in 1916 he noticed a grave with a rough cross on which were pencilled the words "An Unknown British Soldier" in a back garden at Armentières. In August 1920 he wrote to the Dean of Westminster Abbey, through whose influence this memorial was created.

The body was chosen from unknown British servicemen exhumed from four battle areas, the Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. The remains were brought to the chapel at St. Pol on the night of 7 November 1920. The General Officer in charge of troops in France and Flanders, Brigadier General L.J.Wyatt, with Colonel Gell, went into the chapel alone, where the bodies on stretchers were covered by Union Jacks. They had no idea from which area the bodies had come. General Wyatt selected one and the two officers placed it in a plain coffin and sealed it. The other bodies were reburied.

In the morning Chaplains of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and Non-Conformist churches held a service in the chapel before the body was escorted to Boulogne. The next day the coffin was placed inside another made of oak from Hampton Court sent over from England and wrapped in the flag that David Railton had used as an altar cloth during the War (known as the Ypres or Padre's Flag, which now hangs in St George's Chapel).

Within the wrought iron bands of this coffin had been placed a crusader's sword from the Tower of London collection. The coffin plate bore the inscription "A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918 for King and Country".

The destroyer HMS Verdun, whose ship's bell now hangs near the grave in the Abbey, transported the coffin to Dover and it was then taken by train to Victoria station in London where it rested overnight. On the morning of 11 November the coffin was placed on a gun carriage drawn by six black horses and began its journey through the crowd-lined streets, first to Whitehall where the Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V, and then, followed by the King, members of the Royal Family and ministers of State, to the north door of Westminster Abbey. It was borne to the west end of the Nave through a guard of honour of 100 holders of the Victoria Cross.

During the shortened form of the Burial Service, after the hymn “Lead kindly light”, the King stepped forward and dropped a handful of French earth onto the coffin as it was lowered into the grave. The grave was then covered by a silk funeral pall, which had been presented to the Abbey by the Actors' Church Union, with the Padre's flag lying over this. Servicemen kept watch while thousands of mourners filed past. The grave was closed on 18 November and then covered by a temporary stone with a gilded inscription on it:

“A BRITISH WARRIOR WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 FOR KING AND COUNTRY. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS.”

This was later replaced with the following inscription:

"BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY OF A BRITISH WARRIOR, UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK, BROUGHT FROM FRANCE TO LIE AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS IN THE LAND AND BURIED HERE ON ARMISTICE DAY 11 NOV: 1920, IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V,
HIS MINISTERS OF STATE, THE CHIEFS OF HIS FORCES AND A VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATION.

THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT WAR OF 1914-1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT MAN CAN GIVE, LIFE ITSELF, FOR GOD, FOR KING AND COUNTRY, FOR LOVED ONES, HOME AND EMPIRE, FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD.

THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD HIS HOUSE.

Ragz

I was at the Memorial several years ago during a lying of the wreath and changing of the guard ceremony. There was a young girl about 7 or 8 years old sitting/standing next to me. Her father struggled with explaining what the Memorial was about so I chimed in and told her that these boys were American soldiers and we no longer new who they were but that there were a lot of American soldiers whose identity was now lost to us. I told her that these boys here represented all of them.

She smile a little yet had a tear in her eye when she said “Then this is a good thing because any mom and dad who lost their son could come here and ya know what, this really, really could be their son buried here.” “If no one knows who they are, then they can be any of us – it really could be anyone’s son that is really buried here.”

Out of the mouths of babes.

This is a magnificent and wonderfully respectful place and I recommend visiting the site to all Americans.

MrStoff1989

*tear* Thank you my friend. Thank you.