ARLINGTON, Va. — Dedicated to service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice but whose remains have not been identified, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has stood as hallowed ground for 100 years.
The creation of the Tomb began in December 1920, according to Arlington National Cemetery. New York Congressman and World War I veteran Hamilton Fish Jr. proposed legislation to inter one unknown American soldier at a special tomb built in Arlington National Cemetery.
The proposed act mirrored Britain and France's Unknown Warrior and Unknown Soldier, respectively, the cemetery's website says. Both unknowns represented other British and French service members who could not be identified.
The purpose of Fish's legislation was “to bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed, or race in the late war and who typifies, moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead.”
In October 1921, four bodies of unidentified U.S. service members were exhumed from different American military cemeteries in France. On Oct. 24, the Unknown Soldier was selected.
The Unknown Soldier arrived in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 9 and was lain in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Then, on Nov. 11, 1921, the Unknown Soldier was interred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Across the nation, two minutes of silence was observed at the beginning of the ceremony. President Warren G. Harding placed the Medal of Honor on the casket.
Now a sarcophagus, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was originally just a simple marble slab.
In 1958, two more Unknowns were interred at the Tomb, one to represent World War II and one for the Korean War.
Following the Vietnam War, Arlington National Cemetery says it prepared to add a third crypt to the Tomb.
In 1984, only one set of recovered American remains from Vietnam had not been identified. Later, those remains were identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie. His remains were exhumed at his family's request in 1998.
In 1999, the now-empty third crypt was rededicated to "honor all missing U.S. service members from the Vietnam War."
The Tomb at Arlington National Cemetery has been guarded continuously for the past 84 years. The changing of the guard takes place every hour or half-hour, depending on the time of year.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Tomb's dedication, Arlington National Cemetery allowed the public to visit the Tomb and pay their respects. This was the first time in nearly a century the public was allowed to do so.
“One hundred years ago, on November 11, 1921, the World War I Unknown Soldier was transported by a procession to his final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery," said Karen Durham-Aguilera, the executive director of the Office of Army Cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery. "This year, we are recreating elements of that procession, and we invite the public to observe this pivotal moment in American history as thousands of Americans did in 1921."