Known But to God

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: America’s most solemn military shrine

9:57 a.m. March 22, 2026

Editor’s Note: The Moore County High School senior trip is officially underway, and the Observer is excited to share some of the stops, sights, and moments along the way. Through our coverage, readers can follow as students make memories and experience a trip they will remember for years to come. Be sure to follow the Observer on Facebook for dispatches from Gavin Wise and Rileigh Brē Cole’s observations as they report from the road.

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery stands as one of the nation’s most powerful symbols of shared grief. It serves as a grave, a monument, and a lasting act of remembrance.

Here, one unidentified American represents many, and the country responded to the tragedy of unknown wartime deaths with lasting honor and ceremony.

Over the years, the Tomb grew from a World War I burial into a larger memorial for all unidentified and missing American service members.

Born From the Catastrophe of World War I

The Tomb was created in response to the huge loss of life during World War I. Modern warfare left thousands of Americans who could not be identified. After Britain and France each buried an unknown soldier in 1920, the United States decided to create its own national memorial for unidentified war dead.

Rep. Hamilton Fish III of New York, a World War I veteran and the only one in Congress at the time, led the effort to create the Tomb. He introduced a proposal to bring home and bury an unknown American soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside the Memorial Amphitheater. Congress approved this idea unanimously on March 4, 1921. This decision started the process that led to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The permanent stone tomb was added in 1932, and the continuous guard began in 1937.

The law set the Tomb's primary purpose: to stand for one unknown service member who could not be identified and for all families without a marked grave. Arlington was chosen as the site, making the memorial part of the nation’s growing military shrine instead of a regular public space.

How the First Unknown was Chosen

To keep the identity a secret, the Army took one unidentified American from each of four military cemeteries in France. The four caskets were brought together, and Sgt. Edward F. Younger, a decorated World War I veteran, chose one by placing white roses on it. The other three were reburied in France.

The chosen Unknown was brought back to the United States on the USS Olympia. He lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Nov. 10, 1921. On Nov. 11, Armistice Day, he was taken to Arlington and buried with a full state ceremony.

President Warren G. Harding led the service, awarded the Medal of Honor, and helped make the Unknown both a personal burial and a national symbol.

The Monument Took Shape Over Time

The Unknown was buried in 1921, but the marble monument visitors see today was built later. The first burial was under a temporary structure. The permanent white marble tomb, designed by Lorimer Rich and Thomas Hudson Jones, was finished and revealed on April 9, 1932.

The monument’s design was intentional. The sculpted figures represent Peace, Victory, and Valor. Its famous inscription, “Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God,” turned an unidentified burial into one of the nation’s strongest symbols of military honor.

Why the Guard was Posted

The guard tradition began less as pageantry than as protection. By the mid-1920s, the Army was responding to reports of visitors treating the site too casually or disrespectfully. A civilian guard was posted in November 1925, and soldiers began guarding the Tomb in March 1926.

In 1937, uninterrupted round-the-clock guard duty began. Since then, the Tomb has remained guarded in all weather and under all conditions. Since 1948, that duty has belonged to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” the Army’s ceremonial unit.

The Changing of the Guard is a meticulous, 24/7 ceremony performed by sentinels who march 21 steps, pause for 21 seconds, and repeat, symbolizing the 21-gun salute. It occurs every 30 minutes in summer and hourly in winter.

From One Unknown to Three

For over 30 years, only the World War I Unknown was honored at the Tomb. This changed in 1958, when unknown soldiers from World War II and the Korean War were chosen, brought to Washington, honored in the Capitol Rotunda, and buried at Arlington.

The Tomb then became a memorial for unidentified American war dead from many conflicts, not just the First World War.

Vietnam Changed the Meaning of ‘Unknown’

The Vietnam era changed the meaning of the Tomb. In 1984, remains chosen as the Vietnam Unknown were buried there. However, new forensic science made it harder to keep identities unknown. In 1998, DNA testing identified the remains as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie.

In 1999, the empty Vietnam crypt was rededicated to honor Americans still missing from that war. This change quietly but clearly expanded the Tomb’s meaning. It now stands not only for those who could not be identified, but also for those still missing and for the nation’s duty to keep searching for them.

Why the Tomb Still Matters

The Tomb remains important because it answers a question that battlefields cannot: what does a nation owe to those it cannot name? The answer is not certainty, but honor. The Unknown represents thousands of service members whose names were lost to war, and the constant guard turns remembrance into discipline, routine, and public duty.

That is why the inscription still has such power. The nation may not know the name, but it remembers the sacrifice.