Harding took office, to arrange the ceremony, this time for 31 May. But Secretary Weeks upheld Baker's earlier view for the same reasons and chose Armistice Day, , the third anniversary of the war's end, as the appropriate time to conduct the services.
In response to this choice, Congress, on 20 October , declared 11 November a legal holiday to honor all those who participated in World War I; an elaborate ceremony in Washington would pay tribute to the symbolic unknown soldier. The War Department had charge of ceremonies both overseas and in the United States.
Plans for overseas included ceremonies attending the choice of an unknown soldier and the transfer of his body to the Navy for transportation to the United States. In the United States, arrangements were made for receiving the unknown soldier from the Navy at Washington, D.
On 9 September the Quartermaster General received orders from the War Department to select an unknown soldier from those buried in France. Following the selection ceremony, he was to deliver the body to Le Havre, where the Navy would receive it for transportation to the United States. The necessary arrangements were completed by the Quartermaster Corps in France in cooperation with French and U. Navy authorities.
According to plans, the selection ceremony was to take place at Chalons-sur-Marne, ninety miles east of Paris, on 23 October After a final search of the records of unknown dead for any evidence of identity, special Quartermaster Corps teams chose four bodies to be exhumed as possible recipients of the honors.
Four others were selected as alternates should the exhumation of any of the first four reveal evidence of identity. Mihiel—on 22 October Each was examined to ensure that the person had been a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, that he had died of wounds received in combat, and that there were no clues to his identity whatsoever. After mortuary preparation, the bodies were placed in identical caskets and shipping cases. The next day they were carried by truck to Chalons-sur-Marne for the selection ceremony.
At on 23 October all four caskets arrived by truck at the city hall of Chalons-sur-Marne. Awaiting them was a large delegation of French and American officials. The American group was headed by the Quartermaster General, Maj.
Harry L. Rogers, and included Col. Harry F. William G. Ball, Quartermaster Corps; Maj. Robert P. Harbold, also of the Quartermaster Corps, who was the officer in charge and controlled all ceremonies; Capt.
Le Roch, a liaison officer from the French Army; Mr. Keating, the chief supervising embalmer; and representatives of the press. Brisac, Prefet de la Marne; and M. Servas, Maire de Chalons-sur-Marne. Members of the American Quartermaster Corps and town officials had prepared the city hall for the selection ceremony. The outside of the building was decorated with French and American flags; inside, the aisles and corridors were ornamented with palms, potted trees, and flags, and a catafalque had been constructed and set up in the main hall.
Another room was decorated for the reception of the four unknown soldiers and a third was prepared for the ceremony in which the chosen unknown soldier was to be transferred to a different casket. Diagram 1 French troops carried the shipping cases from the trucks into the reception room of the city hall. The caskets were then removed, set on top of the cases, and draped with American flags.
A French guard of honor stood watch until when six American pallbearers arrived from Headquarters, American Forces in Germany, at Coblenz. From this time on, a combined American-French guard maintained constant vigil.
Early on the morning of 24 October Major Harbold, aided by French and American soldiers, rearranged the caskets so that each rested on a shipping case other than the one in which it had arrived. There was now little chance that someone would know even the cemetery from which an unidentified body came. Major Harbold then chose Sgt. Edward F. Originally, a commissioned officer was to do the choosing, but General Rogers changed the plans after learning that the French had designated an enlisted man to choose their unknown soldier.
The choice was delegated to Major Harbold, who then appointed Sergeant Younger. Before the selection a French military band formed in the city hall courtyard adjoining the reception room. The ceremony began as General Duport led French and American officers and French civil Officials to the entrance of the reception room, where they rendered honors to the dead. They then lined the hallway leading to the room. After General Duport and General Rogers made brief speeches Sergeant Younger led the way from the main hall, carrying a spray of white roses presented by a Frenchman who had lost two sons in the war.
As the French band in the. Diagram 1. He then saluted the chosen unknown American, after which the officials in the hallway, led by General Duport, came forward to present their respects. The roses that had been placed on the casket remained there and were buried with the unknown American in Arlington. Following this ceremony the pallbearers, all Army noncommissioned officers from American units in Germany, moved the casket to the second room where Mr. This casket was then sealed.
The empty casket was returned to the reception room, where one of the three remaining bodies was placed in it so that the casket could not be identified. The caskets of the three remaining unknown Americans were then placed in shipping cases and at were put aboard trucks. The casket of the nameless American who was to be honored in the United States as the Unknown Soldier of World War I was draped with an American flag and carried in procession to the catafalque in the main hall.
The spray of roses lay on top of the casket and floral tributes were banked around it. An honor guard of six French and five American soldiers and a uniformed representative of the American Legion took post.
After the press had been admitted to photograph the catafalque, the room was opened to the public. According to plans, the Unknown Soldier was to be carried in procession through Chalons-sur-Marne to the railroad station. The casket was then to be put aboard a special funeral train provided by the French government and taken via Paris to Le Havre. The procession through Chalons-sur-Marne was to follow the Rue de Marne, which stretched for almost a mile directly from the city hall entrance to the railroad station.
An honor cordon of dismounted French cavalry lined both sides of the route. The military escort of French Army units included a band, a regiment of dragoons, a regiment of infantry, two field artillery battalions, and a motor transportation company. The single American Army unit was from the Quartermaster Corps. Also in the escort were French Boy Scouts, firemen, war veterans, representatives of local societies, and students.
The departure ceremony opened late in the afternoon of 24 October with speeches by the mayor of Chalons-sur-Marne and by Maj. Henry T. Allen, who came especially for the occasion from Germany where he commanded American forces.
The American body bearers then carried the casket of the Unknown Soldier out of the city hall. While the French military band played "Aux Champs" and the escort troops presented arms, the body bearers placed the casket on a caisson. Boy Scouts picked up the flowers that had surrounded the catafalque and took positions near the caisson. After General Allen, General Rogers, Colonel Rethers, General Duport, and other officials joined the cortege, the procession moved to the railroad station at the slow cadence of funeral marches played by the band.
At the station the band played the American national anthem while the body bearers transferred the Unknown Soldier from the caisson to the funeral car of the special train. The train left Chalons-sur-Marne at and arrived in Paris three hours later, where it remained overnight. Posted as a guard of honor during the night were three American soldiers and a uniformed representative of the American Legion. On 25 October, after French officials and representatives of patriotic societies had paid their respects and left tributes to the Unknown Soldier, the special train left Paris at midmorning and reached Le Havre about On hand to escort the Unknown Soldier to the docks were representatives of the French and Ameri-.
Thirty French soldiers removed the floral pieces from the train and took position in the column for the procession to the docks.
The American body bearers then carried the casket from the funeral car and placed it on a waiting caisson while the band played "Aux Champs" and French school children showered the caisson with flowers.
En route via the Boulevard Strassbourg, the procession stopped briefly at the city hall where members of the city council presented a wreath to the Unknown Soldier.
At the pier, after speeches by American and French officials and the presentation of the Croix de chevalier de la Legion d'honneur to the Unknown Soldier by M. Maginot, the Minister of Pensions who later inspired the Maginot Line, the body bearers carried the casket to the Olympia. A group of American Marines on the dock presented arms, and the cruiser's band played the French and American national anthems and Chopin's "Funeral March" as six sailors and two marines relieved the Army body bearers and carried the casket aboard ship.
Rear Adm. Heroes Wiki Explore. Top Content. Bureaucrats Jester of Chaos. Pure Good Terms. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Unknown Soldiers. View source. History Talk 0. Do you like this video? Accompanied by many floral tributes and escorted by French and American troops, the solemn procession moved through the City of Le Havre to the pier where the American Cruiser "Olympia", Admiral Dewey's flagship at the battle of Manila Bay, awaited with her flags at half mast to receive the precious cargo which she was to bring to the Homeland.
Here, with ceremonies befitting the solemn occasion, the casket was turned over to the United States Navy and placed on the flower decked stern of the cruiser for the long journey to America.
Slowly and silently the "Olympia" moved from the pier and with a salute of seventeen guns from the French destroyer, to which she promptly responded, the journey of the Unknown Soldier to his homeland began.
Here upon the same catafalque that had similarly held the remains of our Presidents, Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, the body lay in State under a guard of honor and composed of selected men of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. All during the next day thousands of patriotic individuals, including highest officials of the Government, members of the Diplomatic Corps and private citizens, passed before the casket to pay homage to The Unknown Soldier who symbolized all our Unknown and the purpose for which they died.
On the morning of November 11, , Armistice Day, at 8 A. Solemnly through streets lined with thousands gathered to pay homage to those who died on the field of battle the procession moved on to historic Arlington. Upon arrival at the Amphitheater the casket was borne through the south entrance to the apse where it was reverently placed upon the catafalque. During the processional the vast audience both within and without the Amphitheater stood uncovered. A simple but impressive funeral ceremony was conducted which included an address by the President of the United States who conferred upon the Unknown Soldier the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross.
Following this ceremony special representatives of foreign governments associated with the United States in World War I each in turn conferred upon the Unknown the highest military decoration of their Nation. At the conclusion of these ceremonies the remains, preceded by the clergy, the President and Mrs. Harding and others seated in the apse, were borne to the sarcophagus where a brief committal service was held. With three salvos of artillery, the sounding of taps and the National Salute, the impressive ceremonies were brought to a close.
It was originally intended that the simple white marble Tomb placed over the grave of The Unknown Soldier immediately after the interment should serve as a base for an appropriate superstructure. Accordingly very shortly after the ceremonies on November 11, , the question of selecting a suitable monument to complete the Tomb was given consideration.
The Act referred to above provided that the Secretary of War secure competitive designs according to such regulations as he may adopt to complete the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the Secretary of War prepared a program for the completion of the Tomb and invited architects of standing reputation who were citizens of the United States to submit designs.
Seventy four designs were submitted and, from among them, five were selected for further study. The selected competitors were required to restudy their designs and prepare models of plaster of Paris. When these models were received the Jury of Award studied each one, taking into consideration the surroundings of the Tomb, the Amphitheater in which it is located and which serves as a background for it, and the final effect after the completed monument was in place.
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