The ‘Old Guard’ Marks Centennial of Watching over Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The ‘Old Guard’ marks centennial of watching over Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

For over 100 years, Arlington National Cemetery has been the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it hasn’t always been guarded — or revered.Following the soldier’s 1921 internment, the burial site was unguarded and often treated as a tourist attraction by visitors. That is, until 1925, when “concern over the lack of respect led Army Maj. Gen. Fox Conner, the Army’s deputy chief of staff, to order an armed military guard on March 24, 192…

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Marks 100 Years

MARCH 8, 2026 – “We do not know from whence he came, but only that his death marks him with everlasting glory of an American dying for his country,” said President Warren G. Harding, Nov. 11, 1921. Harding delivered the remarks during the burial ceremony for the Unknown Soldier of World War I, whom he symbolically “fathered” as next of kin. World War I UnknownFollowing World War I, the United States joined the Allied nations in honoring unidenti…