What the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Means to Its Guards
Active-duty tomb guards, all part of the 3rd Infantry Regiment “Old Guard,” were there with former soldiers who belonged to the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Key points
- The Unknown Soldier traveled that night by train to Paris and westward the following day to Le Havre, where his casket was carried aboard the USS Olympia en route for Arlington.
- I didn’t read any grand motive into Iglesias’s assertive correction of Pentagon leadership, because I’ve witnessed the devotion of the tomb guards many times.
- The Unknown Soldier was buried under a marble slab atop a hill overlooking the nation’s capital from across the Potomac River.
Among four identical, flag-draped caskets—each containing the unidentified remains of an American soldier killed in World War I—only one would be laid to rest at the new Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Additional details
- A 2022 Army article quotes a tomb guard saying that sentinels issue two or three of them a day, usually to oblivious tourists.
- The tomb soon became a destination for tens of thousands of visitors to pay their respects to America’s war dead.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, his wife, and three of his top advisers posed for photographs near the tomb.
- Others, on Hegseth’s side, chided the soldier for failing to show proper respect to his boss.
- In 1926, military guards were posted to discourage visitors from climbing or stepping on it.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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