With Halloween on the horizon, Veterans Day on Nov. 11 is right around the corner. This year the annual holiday, celebrating American’s living veterans, coincides with the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.
To mark the Tomb’s Centennial, a unique flower ceremony will start on Nov. 9 at 8 a.m. with representatives from the Crow Nation placing flowers at the Tomb and reciting the prayer given 100 years ago by American Indian Chief Plenty Coups. Plenty Coups was a famed warrior and received his name for the numerous times he touched an enemy in battle with a nonlethal “coup” stick, considered the ultimate act of bravery among Native Americans. At the start of World War I, Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens, and they had to petition the government to be allowed to serve and fight in France. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 9-10, individuals will have unprecedented access to the Tomb, to each place a single flower at the site.
Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the plaza of Arlington National Cemetery on March 4, 1921. This followed similar efforts by Britain and France to honor their unidentified fallen soldiers from the Great War. Sgt. Edward Younger, a World War I veteran wounded in combat, chose the Unknown Soldier by laying a handful of white roses on one of four identical caskets, one from each of the four American military cemeteries in France. He also served as a pallbearer for the casket with five other highly decorated veterans of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.
The tomb, which stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, has since come to symbolize the sacrifices of all U.S. service members. The brilliant white marble sarcophagus, which stands above the grave of the Unknown Soldier of World War I, depicts three carved Greek figures representing Peace, Victory, and Valor. Inscribed on the back of the tomb are the words: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
Since 1937, the Army has maintained a 24-hour guard over the tomb. Sentinels from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) assumed those duties in 1948, and they have maintained a constant vigil ever since. An unknown from World War II and the Korean War each rest alongside the initial World War I Unknown.
On May 28, 1984, the Unknown Soldier from the Vietnam War was interred at Arlington. In 1988, through the use of the new technology of DNA, the Vietnam Unknown was identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, a pilot who was shot down in 1972. His remains were returned to his family. Envisioning the possibility of identifying all other Vietnam unknowns, the empty crypt that held Blassie’s body as the Vietnam Unknown was rededicated on Sept. 17, 1999, with a new marble cover, inscribed with the words “Honoring and Keeping Faith with America’s Missing Servicemen.”
