Who is buried in the tomb of unknown soldier????

  It’s Armistice Day, November 11th, in thenation's capital. It is a brisk day at Arlington National Cemetery. Dignitaries stand silently on the third anniversaryof the ending of World War I, watching as a single white casket is lowered into a marbledtomb. In attendance is President Calvin Coolidge,former President Woodrow Wilson, Supreme Court Justice (as well as former President) WilliamHoward Taft, Chief Plenty Coups, and hundreds of dedicated United States servicemen. As the casket settles on its final restingplace in the tomb, upon a thin layer of French soil, three salvos are fired. 

A bugler plays taps and, with the final note,comes a 21 gun salute. The smoke clears and eyes dry as the UnknownSoldier from World War I is laid to rest; the first unknown soldier to be officiallyhonored in this manner in American history. The United States’ allies in World War I,France and Britain, were the first countries to practice the concept of burying an “unknownsoldier.” World War I was, at the time, the most destructiveglobal war in human history. A staggering 37 million people (about 1 in48) were killed, wounded, captured, or missing in action across both sides in what was called“The War to End All Wars.” (Interestingly, around this same time, theSpanish Flu killed between 50-100 million people and infected around a half a billionaround the globe, roughly 1 in 4 humans.) 

Even before the end of the war, the idea offinding a way to properly commemorate the lost, missing, or unable-to-be-identifiedFrench soldiers who died fighting for their country was conceived. Around November 1916, a full two years beforethe war ended, the city of Rennes in France performed a ceremony to honor those localcitizens who were lost and unable to be found. Upon hearing of this ceremony, three yearslater, France’s Prime Minister approved a tomb dedicated to France’s unknown soldierto be installed in Paris. He originally proposed that the tomb be placedin the Pantheon, with other French historical figures like Victor Hugo and Voltaire. 

However, veterans organizations wanted a locationthat was reserved solely for the Unknown Solider. They agreed upon a tomb under the Arc de Triomphe,originally completed in 1836 to commemorate other lost French military members. With the help of a 21 year old French bakerturned “valiant” soldier named August Thin, a representative unknown soldier wassettled upon. On November 11, 1920, his casket was pulleddown the streets of Paris, before settling under the Arc de Triomphe, where he was laidto rest. To this day, the tomb is still there witha torch by its side, rekindled every night at 6:30 PM. That same day, two hundred eighty five milesaway in London, Great Britain was holding a similar ceremony. 

“The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior,” asit is called in London, is housed at Westminster Abbey. It is the only tombstone in the Abbey thatit is forbidden to walk upon, and bears this inscription, “Beneath this stone rest thebody of a British warrior unknown by name or rank brought from France to lie among themost illustrious of the land and buried here on Armistice Day 11 Nov: 1920.” Many countries worldwide adopted this symbolof commemoration, including the United States of America. In December 1920, Congressmen Hamilton FishJr. of New York introduced in Congress a resolution that asked for a return of an unknown Americansoldier from France for proper ceremonial burial in a to-be-constructed tomb at theMemorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery. 

The measure was approved a few months laterfor a “simple structure” that would eventually serve as a basis for a more elaborate monument. Originally set for Memorial Day in 1921, thedate was pushed back when it was noted that many of the unknown soldiers in France werebeing investigated and may be identified, rendering them no longer qualified to be theunknown soldier. The date was then changed to Armistice Day,1921. An important qualification to be selectedas the “unknown soldier” is, of course, that the soldier is truly unknown, for theyare meant to symbolize any soldier. 

Thus, there could be no ID on the body, nopersonal records of the deceased, no family identifications, and no information anywhereat all about who this person was. It also meant that certain precautions neededto be taken to make sure the selected would never be identified. For example, in France, when eight bodieswere exhumed from eight different battlefields, they mixed up the coffins to make sure noone knew who came from where. When August Thin, the young soldier who wasgiven the honor of selecting the Unknown Soldier, walked around the caskets and delicately placedflowers upon one of them, he legitimately had no idea who he was choosing.

 In Britain, six bodies were chosen from sixdifferent battlefields. Not told of any order to the bodies, BrigadierL.J. Wyatt closed his eyes and walked among the coffins. Silently, his hand rested on one- the UnknownWarrior. In America, the process was even more ceremonious. Four unknown Americans were exhumed from theirFrench cemeteries, taken to Germany, and then switched from case to case, so not even thepallbearers knew which casket they were carrying. The honor of choosing exactly which casketwas then given to Sgt. Edward F. Younger of Headquarters Company,2d Battalion, 50th Infantry, American Forces in Germany. Placing one rose on top of the chosen casket,the Unknown Soldier was selected and sent to the U.S. on the ship Olympia. 

Later, that rose would be buried with thecasket. Arriving on the shores of America, the casketwas taken to the Capitol, where it was laid out under the rotunda. President Warren G. Harding and the firstlady, Florence, paid their respects, with Mrs. Harding laying a wreath she made herselfupon the casket. After visits from many notables and military,a vigil was kept overnight. 

The next day, the rotunda was opened up forpublic viewing. It was reported that nearly 100,000 peoplecame to commemorate the Unknown Soldier. Around 10 AM on November 11th, the funeralprocession began, passing by the White House, the Key Bridge, and the construction of theLincoln Memorial (which would be finished six months later). Arriving at Arlington National Cemetery andthe Memorial Amphitheater, the ceremony began rather quickly. In fact, it was reported that the President,who was traveling by car, got stuck in a traffic jam on the way there and would have been lateif it wasn’t for his driver’s quick decision to cut through a field. The beginning of the ceremony featured thesinging of the National Anthem, a bugler, and two minutes of silence. 

Then, President Harding spoke, paying tributeto the Unknown Soldier and asking for the end to all wars. He then placed a Medal of Honor upon the casket. Congressman Fish followed with laying a wreathat the tomb. Next, Chief Plenty Coups, Chief of the CrowNation, laid his war bonnet and coup stick. Finally, the casket was lowered into the cryptas the saluting battery fired three shots. Taps was played with a 21 gun salute at theend. The ceremony for America’s first UnknownSoldier was finished. Many elements for this ceremony were repeatedin 1956, when President Eisenhower made arrangements for unknown soldiers to be selected from WorldWar II and the Korean War. 

In 1984, President Reagan presided over theceremony for the Unknown Solider for the Vietnam War. Acting as next in kin, he accepted the flagpresented at the end of the ceremony. In 1998, a mini-controversy occurred when,through DNA testing, it was discovered that the remains of the Unknown Soldier from Vietnamwas Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in1972. Due to this, it was decided that the cryptthat once held his remains would remain vacant with only this inscription, "Honoring andKeeping Faith with America’s Missing Servicemen, 1958-1975." Today, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier inAmerica is under ceremonious guard 24/7, with the changing of the guard happening up to48 times a day.