The unknown soldier: the history

The first Unknown Soldier almost didn’t make it back to U.S. soil at all.

Too big to fit through the doors into the USS Olympia, the ship designated to carry the remains back from France, the casket was tied to the deck. But when the Olympia plowed through the remnants of a hurricane, tossed by 20-foot waves, it seemed chancy whether the ship would make it, much less the remains stay on board.
 
Capt. Henry Lake Wyman managed to keep the ship afloat, and members of the Marine Corps Honor Guard, which maintained constant watch throughout the storm, lashed themselves to the deck to stay on duty. They even preserved the roses that had been placed on the casket in France, according to historian Patrick K. O’Donnell’s account in “The Unknowns,” a history of the war and the tomb.
 
Arlington this week is commemorating the 100 years with a reenactment of the original journey and entombment in what amounts to a rededication of the resting place for unknown soldiers from World War I, World War II and the Korean conflict.
 
At a time when America was deeply stratified along racial and ethnic lines, the interment was a stunningly unifying moment, fueled in part by the anonymity of the body.

Black parents could imagine it was their son, and the NAACP sent a delegation to the Capitol, where the body lay in state before entombment.
 
At a time when the Civil War was still raw for some, Northerners and Southerners could see one of them in the casket. Even more recent were the Indian wars, which made the choice of Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow Nation as the finale to the interment at Arlington all the more striking.


The chief stepped forward, removed the war bonnet from his head and placed it and his warrior’s coup stick on the sarcophagus to commemorate the American Indians who served a country that just a couple of decades earlier was at war with them, Mr. O’Donnell wrote in his history.
 
evince said:
At a time when America was deeply stratified along racial and ethnic lines, the interment was a stunningly unifying moment, fueled in part by the anonymity of the body.

Black parents could imagine it was their son, and the NAACP sent a delegation to the Capitol, where the body lay in state before entombment.
Click to expand...

It all sounds racist so it should be torn down
 
My face is all wet


I bow my head in honor to such Americans



They defended and made strong this beautiful union


With Government Bullets
 
evince said:
The first Unknown Soldier almost didn’t make it back to U.S. soil at all.

Too big to fit through the doors into the USS Olympia, the ship designated to carry the remains back from France, the casket was tied to the deck. But when the Olympia plowed through the remnants of a hurricane, tossed by 20-foot waves, it seemed chancy whether the ship would make it, much less the remains stay on board.
Click to expand...

A Big man
 
evince said:
So you want to rape the memory of the unknown soldier?


We have cures for that aberrant behavior


Government bullets
Click to expand...

You're one of the fucking morons that wants to tear down statues. Stop being such a fucking hypocritical asshole.
 
This nation will be as one


We will rise again to defend what is sacred and beautiful about mankind seeking peace and union among it’s people


Even if we have to cure the brain worms of evil doers with government bullets
 
evince said:
This nation will be as one


We will rise again to defend what is sacred and beautiful about mankind seeking peace and union among it’s people


Even if we have to cure the brain worms of evil doers with government bullets
Click to expand...

Threatening again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top