In 1921, the first soldier of the Tomb of the Unknowns was laid to rest. The memorial was filmed

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Retropolis

In 1921, the first soldier of the Tomb of the Unknowns was laid to rest. The memorial was caught on film.

Cameras captured three days of ceremony that culminated with the dedication of the monument to the unidentified killed in war.

By Michael E. Ruane
Yesterday at 7:00 a.m. EST

It was cold and raining that afternoon, and officials had spread sand on the gangway so the sailors carrying the precious casket off the ship wouldn’t slip.

On the dock at the Washington Navy Yard, VIPs stood at attention, awaiting the return of America’s unknown soldier. The USS Olympia, which had carried the body from France, rang out eight bells — a traditional salute to the fallen.

A band began Chopin’s funeral march, and a team of six black horses hitched to an empty caisson waited for its cargo.

As the cameras rolled, Gen. John J. Pershing, who had led the American troops during World War I, stood bundled in his Army coat. Gen. John. A. Lejeune, the Marine Corps commandant, raised his hand in salute. Secretary of War John W. Weeks took off his top hat, baring his bald head in the weather.

On Nov. 9, 1921, the anonymous “doughboy” — the nickname given to the infantrymen — was carried down the wet gangway. And Washington paused for three days of ceremony that would lead to the creation of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

There, the soldier was laid to rest on Nov. 11, 1921 — three years after World War I ended in 1918.

On Thursday, 100 years to the day, Arlington will commemorate the event with a public procession through the cemetery featuring honor guards, the U.S. Army Band and military flyovers.

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Editing by Monica Norton. Photo editing by Mark Miller. Video editing by Hadley Green. Copy editing by Jamie Zega. Design by Allison Mann and Talia Trackim.

By Michael Ruane
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Twitter https://twitter.com/michaelruane

[Tomconroy]

1. A while ago I had read about the push for a burial for an

Unknown veteran of Viet Nam. I think the story was that there were a few unknown deceased but the Army had gotten so good at identifications they hoped to identify everyone. There was some pressure for there to be an unknown burial but there was resistance.
Don't know what happened but I think I would have heard of a burial for a Viet Nam unknown.

[Aristus]

2. There actually was an unknown soldier from Vietnam interred at the Tomb.

He was later identified, disinterred, and then reburied in his hometown. The marble slab underneath which he had rested now bears a tribute to the Tomb's sentinels, asserting that they will keep faith with the remaining unknowns.

[Tomconroy]

3. Thanks. Didn't know that.

[Aristus]

4. Here's the Wikipedia account:

The Vietnam Unknown service member was originally designated by Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Allan Jay Kellogg, Jr., during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor.

Each branch of the Armed Services took part in the transportation to honor the unknown. The Marines from Marine Barracks Hawaii consisted of an Honor Guard of 9 enlisted men and Lt. Denis Muller. The designated Vietnam Unknown was transported aboard USS Brewton, where the Marines stood guard over the casket during the voyage to Naval Air Station Alameda, California. At Travis, the debarkation ceremony turned the remains over to the USAF on May 24. The next day, the remains of the Unknown were flown from Travis Air Force Base, California, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Once there the remains were turned over to the US Army, where the remains were taken to Fort McNair for placement upon the horse-drawn wagon which later carried the Unknown to the Capital Rotunda for display before interment. While on display for public viewing, all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces stood in honor, guarding the casket of the Unknown for two weeks.

Many Vietnam veterans and President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan visited the Vietnam Unknown in the U.S. Capitol. An Army caisson carried the Vietnam Unknown from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984.

President Reagan presided over the funeral, and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown, and also acted as next of kin by accepting the interment flag at the end of the ceremony. The interment flags of all Unknowns at the Tomb of the Unknowns are on view in the Memorial Display Room.

Identification of the Unknown
In 1994, Ted Sampley, a POW/MIA activist, determined that the remains of the Vietnam Unknown were likely those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down near An Lộc, Vietnam, in 1972. Sampley published an article in his newsletter and contacted Blassie's family, who attempted to pursue the case with the Air Force's casualty office without result. In January 1998, CBS News broadcast a report based on Sampley's investigation which brought political pressure to support the identification of the remains. The body was exhumed on May 14, 1998. Based on mitochondrial DNA testing, Department of Defense scientists confirmed the remains were those of Blassie. The identification was announced on June 30, 1998, and on July 10, Blassie's remains arrived home to his family in St. Louis, Missouri; he was reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on July 11.

Redesignation of the crypt
The slab over the crypt that once held the remains of the Vietnam Unknown has since been replaced. The original inscription of "Vietnam" has been changed to "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen" as a reminder of the commitment of the Armed Forces to the fullest possible accounting of missing service members. It was decided that the crypt would remain vacant.

[Tomconroy]

5. Just thinking about it, today they might even be able to ID

The unknowns from WWI and II, with all the dna data banks.

[Aristus]

6. I suppose that's possible. But I don't expect they will do it.

The Unknowns honored at the TOTUS aren't there just for themselves; they represent the thousands of unknowns soldiers from WWI, WWII, and Korea. I'm confident that modern testing could identify the three unknowns there, and then we could conceivably take down the Tomb. But it's there to honor all of the unknowns, and more than just symbolically.

One of the Old Guard sentinels at the Tomb once said in an interview, that in addition to their names, dates of birth, rank, and even how they died, we also don't know if they were alone at the times of their deaths. The Sentinels ensure that the Unknowns will never be alone again.

I was so moved by that, I don't even have the words.