by Gina L. Diorio
On this day in 1921, Sgt. Edward F. Younger, a U.S. Army veteran, decorated war hero, and recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, entered a hall in Chalons-sur-Marne, France carrying a spray of white roses. Before him were four identical caskets, each draped with an American flag and each cradling the body of a World War I American soldier. Younger circled the caskets three times and then placed the white roses on the third casket from the left.
The selected casket was brought aboard the USS Olympia, which carried it across the ocean to the United States, where the soldier within lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda until November 11, when he became the first Unknown Soldier buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
An informal letter written November 13, 1921 by 23-year-old U.S. Health Service employee Miriam “Mimi” Felt to her family provides a glimpse into America’s response to her fallen solder:
Thursday night after work, Gertie and I went up to the Capitol to see the body in state there. We went up about six o’clock, thinking the crowd would not be so large. But at that time the line (four abreast) extended over two blocks, and by the time we had reached the Capitol steps and could look back at the crowd, it extended up one side of the park, down another side, then the third side of it and on beyond around the Capitol building where we could see no farther, so I don’t know how much longer it was.
Indeed, America recognized a hero was in her midst.
On November 11, 1921, President Harding presided over the interment ceremonies at Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater, and today, the Tomb of the Unknowns, which marks the final resting place of three unknown servicemen – one each from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War – is one of the most visited sites in Arlington National Cemetery.
Throughout our nation’s history, countless brave Americans have sacrificed all for the cause of freedom. In Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and on the high seas, husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, sons and daughters, have given their last full measure of devotion. Many are remembered by name. Many are not.
Eighty-seven years ago today, America officially selected her first Unknown Soldier, and today the three soldiers in Arlington represent the thousands of unknown American soldiers resting in cemeteries around the world.
It is right that we honor the three in Arlington, and in doing so, it is vital that we remember the rest – those heroic souls known but to God.
Arlington National Cemetery Tomb of the Unknowns
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Gina L. Diorio is a full-time freelance writer. Please visit her website at www.LibertyWritingSolutions.com.
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