Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Preview

This tour contains three types of stops:

• HONOR stops mark the gravesites of specific individuals.
• REMEMBER stops commemorate events, ideas, or groups of people.
• EXPLORE stops invite you to discover what this history means to you.

After World War I ended on November 11, 1918, the nations involved had to decide how to memorialize the war and honor the thousands of dead — both known and unknown. All of the nations involved faced the challenge of being unable to identify or repatriate every fallen service member. Great Britain and France each decided to inter an Unknown Soldier to honor all service members from the war. On Armistice Day (November 11) 1920, Great Britain interred its Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in London, while France interred its Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Following the lead of these allies, World War I veteran and U.S. Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr. introduced legislation in December 1920 for an American unknown soldier to be interred in a new tomb. Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater was eventually chosen as the site for this Tomb, and the burial would be held on Memorial Day. This Unknown would represent the nearly 2,000 unidentified American soldiers buried in Europe. The proposed tomb would also serve as a central location to mourn and to remember those who had been lost. In March 1921, the bill passed with one major change — the service would take place on Armistice Day, not Memorial Day, to allow time to ensure that the selected remains were truly unidentifiable.

• Member of Congress from 1905-1919
• Secretary of War from 1921-1925
• Chose November 11 (Armistice Day) for the World War I Unknown Soldier's burial, solidifying this day, now called Veterans Day, as an American holiday and day of remembrance

Along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery is home to the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns. Following the Civil War (1861-1865), the War Department began a largescale effort to locate, identify and rebury the remains of hundreds of thousands of U.S. (Union) soldiers scattered across battlefields. By the time the Federal Reburial Program ended in 1870, the individual bodies of nearly 300,000 U.S. dead were reinterred in national cemeteries such as Arlington. The program was unable to identify the names of 42 percent of those bodies, which were placed in individual graves and marked as “unknown.” Many remains from battles fought in Virginia were not intact. To honor those men, in 1866 Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army Montgomery Meigs ordered the construction of a collective crypt and monument—the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns.

This Tomb contains the partial and commingled remains of 2,111 unknown soldiers, mostly found in and around the fields of Manassas, Virginia (Bull Run). Two major Civil War battles were fought at Bull Run/Manassas, in July 1861 and August 1862. In both bloody battles, the U.S. Army suffered a serious and unexpected defeat and was forced to quickly retreat, leaving behind its dead. Nearly 1,800 remains buried in the Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns came from Bull Run; the rest were found at other battlefields within an approximately 25-mile radius of Washington, D.C.

Due to the state of many of the remains, it is possible that the Tomb includes both U.S. and Confederate soldiers. At the time of the Tomb of the Civil War Unknown’s construction in 1866, some people complained about this possibility, but within a few years the Tomb had become a revered place to honor and mourn the dead of the Civil War.

The Tomb of the Civil War Unknowns served as the precursor to the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. The soldiers buried at this site also sacrificed their lives and identities in service of the United States. As you pause here, reflect on the ways you can honor their service so long ago.

By the early 1900s, Arlington National Cemetery's original amphitheater — now called the James R. Tanner Amphitheater — could no longer accommodate the large crowds that flocked to ceremonies held there. In 1908, the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization for U.S. Civil War veterans), led by Judge Ivory G. Kimball (Section 3, Grave 1538), petitioned Congress for a larger amphitheater.

Speaking in favor of a new amphitheater, Kimball told Congress:

"Arlington is not for today; it is not for the Grand Army of the Republic alone; it is not for the Spanish War veterans alone, but during all time as long as this nation lasts Arlington will be unique and will be the burial place for our soldiers."

This sentiment — that Arlington was an important national landmark, and not only for remembrance of the Civil War or the Spanish-American War — represented an important shift in the history of the cemetery. The construction of Memorial Amphitheater marked a new stage in Arlington National Cemetery’s significance as a national shrine and monument to America’s service members. Dedicated on May 15, 1920, Memorial Amphitheater has served as the site for the national Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies. It has also hosted memorial and funeral services for several notable Americans, including every Unknown Soldier, Colonel Charles Young (Section 3, Grave 1730-B) and General of the Armies John J. Pershing (Section 34, Grave S-19).

Although the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built to honor an unknown soldier from World War I, it eventually became a national place to honor military service and sacrifice more broadly. Today, it holds the remains of unknown soldiers from both world wars and the Korean War, as well as an empty crypt to honor missing service members from the Vietnam War.

People visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for various reasons. Some visit to honor military service and sacrifice; some to mourn a loved one; others because of the Tomb’s historical and national significance. Every visitor to the Tomb has their own background that shapes their ideas about the United States and about military service and sacrifice. As you visit the memorial and gravesite today, consider its history and symbols and what they mean to you.

• Why are you visiting the Tomb today?
• What do you feel while you are here?

After visiting the Tomb and honoring the sacrifice of the Unknown Soldiers, take a few moments to visit Memorial Amphitheater’s Display Room, at the top of the steps to the west of the Tomb. Explore this exhibit and view historical artifacts related to the Tomb and how people have honored and remembered unknown soldiers since 1921.

• Designed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Although the Unknown Soldier’s burial was held on November 11, 1921, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was not completed, with the current raised sarcophagus, until 1932. Before that, it consisted of only the marble tomb with a stone slab designed by Thomas Hastings, the Memorial Amphitheater’s architect.

On July 3, 1926, Congress approved a national competition to complete the Tomb and set aside $50,000 for the project. On April 11, 1928, the War Department launched the competition. Within two months, they received 73 submissions.

Of the 73 submitted designs, a committee chose five finalists. Each had to build a model of their design and anonymously submit it to a jury for final selection. Architect Lorimer Rich and sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones designed the winning submission. Rich explained that his design intended to

“create a simple, dignified surrounding to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”

In addition to its built memorials, Arlington National Cemetery has hundreds of memorial trees—living tributes to service members, units, wars or battles. This memorial tree was dedicated on May 8, 1932 in honor of the mother of the World War I Unknown Soldier. It is the earliest known memorial tree in the cemetery.

Those mourning the loss of a loved one often find solace in a physical monument honoring the person they have lost. After World War I, family and friends of unknown service members lacked the closure of knowing the fate and final resting place of their loved ones. The United States government responded to their grief and loss by constructing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and by sponsoring the Gold Star pilgrimages to Europe.

For many mothers, widows and family members, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier offered comfort. Mrs. R. Emmet Digney, president of the National American War Mothers organization, spoke about this comfort after placing a wreath during the Unknown Soldier’s funeral.

• "Father of Mortuary Affairs"
• Perfected new techniques for identifying the war dead, maintaining accurate records, and transferring embalmed remains back to the United States for proper burial

Prior to the establishment of national cemeteries in 1862, American service members were often buried near the places they fell in battle. There was no formal process for marking these graves or informing a soldier’s family of his burial location. With the establishment of the national cemetery system during the Civil War, however, the U.S. government began a large-scale effort to recover, identify and bury its military dead.

The Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars presented the challenge of repatriating remains from overseas. Due to the efforts of the Army Quartermaster Burial Corps and United States Army Morgue and Office of Identification in Manila, the remains of thousands of American service members were returned from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines for burial closer to home.

• Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for extraordinary heroism in World War I
• One of eight body bearers chosen to transport the World War I Unknown Soldier during the Unknown's funeral ceremony in 1921

• World War I veteran and Purple Heart recipient
• Selected the World War I Unknown Soldier

• Sounded Taps at the funeral of the World War I Unknown Soldier in 1921
• Sounded Taps at the funerals of President Woodrow Wilson (1924), Lt. Gen. Nelson Miles (1925), Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood (1927), and former President William Howard Taft (1930)

Section 19 holds the gravesites of many African American soldiers who served during World War I. Arlington National Cemetery, like all national cemeteries, was segregated by race until President Harry S. Truman ordered the desegregation of the United States military in 1948. Section 19 is one of the original segregated sections of the cemetery.

More than 350,000 African Americans served in the U.S. military during World War I. However, only a small percentage of them were assigned to combat units. The majority served in support and manual labor roles, including in the Graves Registration Service (GRS). The work of the GRS was emotionally and physically difficult. It involved locating and disinterring remains scattered across battlefields, as well as digging proper graves in the newly established American foreign cemeteries.

• Received the Medal of Honor for his actions in battle during World War I
• One of eight body bearers chosen to escort the Unknown Soldier from the U.S. Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921

• The only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the U.S. Army: General of the Armies
• Commanded the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I

Following World War I, General Pershing took great interest in ensuring that fallen service members were given appropriate honors. He advocated for the beautification and preservation of the American cemeteries in France – an effort he eventually led as chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission – and supported the effort to bury the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. On February 1, 1921, he stated to Congress:

“It seems to me it would be a very fitting tribute for the Nation to pay not only to the unknown dead but to all who gave their lives and those who risked their lives for their country. We have had no national expression of any sort since the war ended that would give the people an opportunity to show their appreciation of the services over there of the young manhood of the Nation, and it seems to me it would be a very fine thing for Congress to make some provision for a ceremony that would give the people the country an opportunity to do that.”

You've reached the end of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Tour. You can explore additional content and resources on the Arlington National Cemetery Education Program website, or find more tours through Arlington National Cemetery's STQRY.