QUARANTINE BLOG # 500

August 12, 2021

The Tomb of the Unknowns is guarded by soldiers of the United States Army.  It is considered one of the highest honors to serve as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns.  Fewer than 20 percent of all volunteers are accepted for training and of those only a fraction pass training to become full-fledged Tomb Guards.  As of July 4, 2020, only 683 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guard Identification Badges have been awarded.

The soldier “walking the mat” does not wear rank insignia, so as not to outrank the Unknowns, whatever their ranks may have been.  

There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves.  Each march down the 63-foot-long black matt is 21 steps.  Each turn involves a wait of 21 seconds.  When the guard changes directions, he changes his weapon to the outside shoulder and waits 21 seconds.  After each turn, the guard executes a sharp “shoulder-arms” movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the guard stands between the Tomb and any possible threat.

Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowed – the 21-gun salute.

A military guard was first posted on March 25, 1926.  The first 24-hour guard was posted on midnight, July 2, 1937.  The Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since that time.  Inclement weather,  even terrorist attacks do not cause the watch to cease.

On guard during a hurricane

On guard during a winter storm

A guard takes an average of six hours to prepare his uniform – heavy wool, regardless of the time of year – for the next day’s work.  Tomb guards are required to memorize 35 pages of information about Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, including the locations of nearly 300 graves and who is buried in each one.

While Arlington National Cemetery is open to the public, during the day in summer months from April 1 to September 30, the guard is changed every half hour.  During the winter months, from October 1 to March 31, the guard is changed every hour.  After the cemetery closes to the public (7 p.m. to 8 a.m. April through September, and 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. October through March), the guard is changed every 2 hours.  This 9 minute video shows the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown. 

Today more than 50 nations have a hallowed place for their unknown soldiers.  The first were dedicated in 1920 by Britain – the Unknown Warrior, and France – the Unknown Soldier. 

For Brian and Elizabeth:

The Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is situated before the National War Memorial in Confederation Square, Ottawa, Ontario.  The tomb holds the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who died in France during the First World War.

Tomb of the Unknown covered with poppies on Remembrance Day.

The Canadian Cabinet asked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to select one of the 1,603 graves of unknown Canadians buried in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge, France.  Chosen was Grave 7, in Row E of Plot 8 of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery in Souchez, France, near the memorial at Vimy Ridge, the site of the first major battle where all four Canadian divisions fought together as a combined force. 

The remains of the soldier buried there were exhumed on the morning of May 16, 2000, and the coffin was flown in a Canadian Forces aircraft to Ottawa on May 25, accompanied by a 45-person guard of honor.  In Ottawa, the unknown soldier lay in state for three days in the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill.

On the afternoon of May 28, the body of the unknown soldier was transported to the National War Memorial on a horse-drawn Royal Canadian Mounted Police gun carriage.  With full military honors the body, in a silver maple casket, was re-interred in a sarcophagus in front of the war memorial. 

Guards on duty at the Tomb of the Unknown.

The original headstone of the unknown soldier is the sole artifact and the focal point of Memorial Hall exhibit within the Canadian War Museum. The hall was designed in such a way that sunlight will only frame the headstone once each year on the 11th of November at 11:00 a.m. to mark the signing of The Armistice of November 11, 1918 that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last remaining opponent, Germany. 

Memorial Hall at the Canadian War Museum, with the original headstone for the unknown soldier in the left foreground.

The changing of the Guard at the Canadian War Museum.

Finally, in 1994, I was privileged to see the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown in Moscow, just outside of the Kremlin Wall.

This video (not mine) shows the changing of the Guard.

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