Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier: A Great Honor
Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 soldiers and their families who have served in the military protecting our freedom. It is a high honor to have your remains buried in the cemetery with a tombstone bearing your family name. However, there are also so many soldiers who died in service to our country who have no name and no tombstone to honor their grave. Inside Arlington National Cemetery, there is a place called The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This place serves as a shrine to all those soldiers who died in service to this country who remain nameless. The Tomb honors those who were never able to be identified and all those who were never able to return home to America because they died fighting on foreign soil, either buried in a grave with no name or worse yet never buried with respect at all.
The Tomb of The Unknown Soldier was established on November 11, 1921 (which is now present day Veteran’s Day holiday) to honor those soldiers who had no name or could not be found. The first civilian guard was placed there on November 17, 1925, to guard against people using the Tomb as a picnic area because of the beautiful views from there. They first began guarding the Tomb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on July 1, 1937. The Tomb has never been left unguarded since then, even when Hurricane Isabel hit. The guards stayed there during the storm to guard the Tomb even when the winds reached up to 120 mph. They stayed to perform their duty and show their patriotism, honor and respect to the people who have lost their lives fighting for our country and for those who are still fighting for our country. The guards do not let inclement weather prevent them from serving their duty, but they do have a “green box” they can take shelter under if the weather gets really bad. There are also plans in place to keep the guards from being harmed in case of emergencies.
In the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, there were 4 “unknown” soldiers laid to rest in the Tomb all from 4 different wars in our country’s history. The first soldier selected to be buried in the Tomb was from World War I. To make sure the selection of the soldier was completely random, they exhumed 4 caskets from 4 different cemeteries in France. An Army Sergeant placed white roses on the casket that would be moved to the Tomb at Arlington Cemetery and then the other 3 caskets were reburied in the Meuse Argonne Cemetery in France. Two soldiers remains from World War II were also selected; one was moved to the Tomb and the other was reburied at Sea. The remains of four soldiers from the Korean War were exhumed from a cemetery in Hawaii. There, another Army Sergeant selected the one soldier’s casket that would be placed in the Tomb at Arlington. Finally, from the Vietnam War, there were only 2 sets of remains that were unidentified. Military anthropologists felt strongly that the remains could eventually be identified, but there was strong political pressure to put a soldier from the Vietnam War next to the other 3 unknown soldiers in the Tomb. The remains were eventually signed over in 1984, and he joined the other unknowns in the Tomb with a ceremony presided by President Ronald Reagan. However, there were people who did not believe this 4th soldier was actually an unknown.
A former Army Green Beret, Ted Sampley wrote an article outlining his belief that the soldier now buried in the Tomb of the unknown soldier was Air Force Pilot Lt. Michael Blassie. CBS News correspondent Vince Gonzales saw Sampley’s article in 1997 and began his own investigation. He was eventually able to convince Michael Blassie’s family to go public on television demanding that the remains of the 4th soldier be exhumed for DNA testing. The DNA testing proved that the remains were of Michael Blassie. His body was removed from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and reburied with his family in Missouri. The 4th spot in the Tomb was left empty and now says “Honoring and Keeping Faith with America’s Missing Servicemen”. Because of all the advances in DNA testing, there are no longer any soldiers laid to rest at the Tomb as unknowns. To honor those interred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and all the men & women they represent, special wreath laying ceremonies are scheduled many times per year. It is a way of paying respect and recognizing military soldier’s sacrifices for our freedom.
Serving as a guard for The Tomb of The Unknowns is a great honor that requires a lot of strength, dedication and training. To become a guard is very hard and very few people make it past the training. The requirements to become a guard is that you have to be in the 3rd Regiment of the U.S. Armed Forces, you have to volunteer, and then you must apply for the job. Once you apply you have to go through an average of 7-8 months of extreme training and once you pass that, you have to take a knowledge test. For the knowledge test you are required to memorize a packet that has information of the cemetery in it. Serving as a guard requires some physical traits that you are limited to, but not all guards have to meet them depending on circumstances. The requirements for a male are that you have to be in the range between 5’10” and 6’4” and you have to be in good physical shape. Females must be a minimum of 5’8” tall. The first woman that was permitted to become a guard was in 1996. Since then there have been 4 female guards. The 4 female guards are: Sgt. Johnson 1996, Sgt. Wilson 1997, Sgt. Bell 1998, and Sgt. Hanks 2015.
Laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier would be a great honor and because very few people get the chance to do it, I realize how important this opportunity is. I believe I would be a great person to represent Cramer because I feel that I am very mature and I understand the importance of this opportunity. I feel like I have worked hard in school and I would really like to receive this honor in recognition of that hard work. Being able to participate in this ceremony would mean recognition of my hard work and the good person I am trying to be, from my teachers. This honor would also set a good example for me going into Garber High School and it would be a great memory which I would always be able to cherish. I would like to be chosen because some of my family (grand-fathers) have served in the armed forces and it would honor them. I believe I am a good student, I work hard in school and I try to get all A’s and I try to help other people in class.
In summary, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is an important shrine dedicated to those who have served and died in service of our country. It is a reminder to all of us that we should not take our freedom for granted and that many people have given their lives over the years, so we can live ours without fear. The wreath laying ceremony is a symbolic way for us to pay our respects to all of those who serve our country. It is a small act of placing flowers to remind us that life is short and precious and that we should always cherish it and the freedom we have. I would be honored to be a part of this very important ceremony.
