The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery honors unidentified American soldiers who died in combat. Guards follow a specific program and the tomb has no formal name. It was dedicated in 1921 for World War I and later expanded to include World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Visitors pay their respects and the tomb serves as a monument to the sacrifices of unidentified soldiers.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument in Arlington National Cemetery that honors the memory of unknown American soldiers who died in combat. While the use of dog tags and other identification tools has significantly reduced the number of unidentified American remains, unknown remains still exist and people are still working to identify these soldiers. Many nations have a version of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknowns, reflecting a widespread desire to recognize and honor deceased soldiers who have remained unidentified.
Officially, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has no formal name, although Arlington personnel refer to it as the “Tomb of the Unknowns,” as do members of the 3rd US Infantry, who are tasked with 24-hour guarding of the tomb. day, 21 days a year. The men chosen for service as guards are of high moral and military standing, and follow a very specific program, down to the number of steps required to walk in front of the tomb (21) and the number of seconds it takes to stand at both ends of the tomb (also XNUMX).
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in 1921 as a way to honor the unidentified dead of World War I. Unidentified remains buried in France were exhumed and repatriated to the United States, where they were buried inside a white marble sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is decorated with carvings of Peace, Victory and Valour, together with wreaths representing major battles of World War I, and bears the inscription “here rests in honored glory an American soldier known only to God”.
In 1956, President Eisenhower decided to honor the unknown dead of World War II and also the Korean War by burying two more unknown soldiers under marble plaques in front of the monument. In 1984, an unknown soldier from the Vietnam War was also buried at the site, although he was later exhumed and identified. The vault designated for an unknown Vietnamese soldier remains empty. All of the soldiers in this grave were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and some even have additional decorations.
Many visitors to Arlington like to stop by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to pay their respects, with presidents traditionally laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Memorial Day. Thanks to improvements in DNA testing and other identification techniques, unknown American dead from conflicts since the Civil War they are consistently identified by forensic anthropologists and other specialists, but it remains probable that some soldiers will never be identified, and the Tomb of the Unknowns serves as a monument to their sacrifices.
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