Unknown Soldier

unidentified remains of a soldier killed in action, ceremonially entombed as the representative of all the war dead of his country, and accorded national honors. After World War I many nations, the first of which was Great Britain, selected an unknown soldier as a tribute to those who had made the supreme sacrifice.

In the U.S. the first American unknown soldier was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., on Nov. 11, 1921. His tomb, a simple white-marble structure dedicated Nov. 11, 1932, rests in front of Arlington Memorial Amphitheater. It is inscribed: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.” On Memorial Day 1958 two more unknown soldiers, one from World War II and one from the Korean War, were buried at the head of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (now called the Tomb of the Unknowns). On Memorial Day 1984, a soldier from the Vietnam War was interred; in 1998, genetic tests identified the remains as those of Michael Blassie (b. 1948), an Air Force lieutenant killed in combat in 1972. He was laid to rest at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Missouri. An unknown soldier of the Pacific campaign in World War II was buried at sea with full military honors.

The unknown soldier of Great Britain was buried in Westminster Abbey, in London, in 1920; the unknown soldier of France lies under the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris; the Belgian unknown soldier is in a tomb at the base of the Colonnade of the Congress, in Brussels; and the Italian unknown soldier is buried in Rome, in front of the monument to King Victor Emmanuel II. Special ceremonies are held each November 11 on Armistice Day (now known as Veterans Day in the U.S.) to honor the unknown soldiers. Tribute is paid to the American unknown soldiers on Memorial Day also. France pays similar tribute on Bastille Day.