The Unknown Soldier

What's up with the tomb of the unknown soldiers that are supposedly guarded everyday around the clock by guards in Arlington Cemetry?

www.arlingtoncemetery.net...

Do you think there's something else behind it? Maybe there's an underground secret path in the tombs? etc.

Because it just doesn't make sense for soldiers to be guarding the tomb of dead people. They are suppose to show "respect" for the dead of the unknowns, but let's be serious. That makes no sense at all.

Then why not guard all the cemetries were the people died without being identified? I'm sure there's thousands of those people as well.

I want to hear your thoughts.

reply to post by bobbylove321



good question. i checked around and all i could find was that it is an honor bestowed to those of unknown origins and this particular soldier that WAS buried there signified all the unknowns.

The body of an unidentified soldier, killed in France, was laid to eternal rest in the plaza of the Memorial Amphitheater on 11 November 1921. This soldier represents all the unidentified and missing from World War I.

however, according to a link i went off of on the link you provided, it would seem no one was buried there now as they claim to have identified the soldier w/ a dna test and sent the remains to his family.

www.arlingtoncemetery.net...

the conditions, process, and great desire of those who want to guard this supposedly empty tomb 24/7 365/yr through good and bad weather begs the question, as you said, why.

i remember going in dec 2006 and wondered why JFK's tomb is only surrounded by a small chain.


answers.yahoo.com...

the above also has an answer to a question that shows that soldiers are even willing to risk their life to guide this "empty" tomb.



[edit on 23-7-2008 by justamomma]

Its just a symbol.. that though many soldiers have fallen and may never be identified, they will always be remembered.

There have been many funerals over the years that may include a coffin, but not necessarily a body.

I had a close family member that did not make it back from Vietnam ( any part of him), yet we still had services, and have a tombstone for him.

I guess we have a secret way into a base there as well.

Originally posted by bobbylove321
Do you think there's something else behind it? Maybe there's an underground secret path in the tombs? etc.

I think that the facilities that the guards occupy while on duty are under the tombs or something like that.

Originally posted by bobbylove321Because it just doesn't make sense for soldiers to be guarding the tomb of dead people. They are suppose to show "respect" for the dead of the unknowns, but let's be serious. That makes no sense at all.

You're not in the military, are you? Because if you were, this would make all the sense in the world. It's a sign of respect.

You are right, you can't guard them all, but you can guard these.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic



i can understand the idea of honoring unknown soldiers. but yeah, just seems weird that they aren't guarding an actual unknown soldier there. they are honoring an empty monument. wouldn't it be prudent to take another brave unknown soldier and place him in the tomb so that the guards are actually risking their lives for something more than just a monument?

or am i missing the point? i understand honor, but i don't understand giving your life for someone who is already dead. these soldiers standing guard during life threatening weather were willing to leave their loved ones behind in order to stand guard and to me, that just doesn't make sense. is it part of the brainwashing they do in the military to make you hang on to something that is already long since gone (meaning a corpse) instead of just honoring their memory by living a happy healthy life?

this is why i understand the OP's question.

They gave their todays, so we could have a tommorow.

They are never to be left, never to be forgotten, never to know that silence of solitude. its the greatest mark of respect brave and utterly self less generations of unknown soldiers can ever have.

There used to be soldiers there, but they've since finally been identified. As for why new soldiers aren't added, it's not there as a sort of piggy bank, to hold soldiers until they are identified, it's there more as a symbol. It's about as religious and sacred as something can be without, well, being religious.
Soldiers go missing, and are not ID'ed in every war, unfortunately, the monument is supposed to represent the fact they will not be forgotten, it doesn't have to be full to do so.

Fighting a war would be bad enough, but fighting and dying without anybody knowing what had happened to me would be so much worse. And just being a nameless body on the battlefield would be even worse yet.

Obviously this is just my humble opinion, but I don't think there is anything more to this than gratitude and respect. I'm the daughter of a soldier and Vietnam vet, and I went to this tomb of the unknown soldier. One could easily tell who the military people and vets in the crowd were-- it was just the look on their faces and how they stood. It was the same with the VietNam wall. There is a lot of dignity and respect in the soldiers that guard this tomb, and a lot of dignity and respect in those who go to see it. I think it all comes down to "you had to be there..." in order for many of us to truly understand why.

just to let you know there is a tomb of the unknown soldier in Portugal too, which is also guarded by men with guns, (ive been there twice). Its in a place called Batalha.

Originally posted by Alora
Fighting a war would be bad enough, but fighting and dying without anybody knowing what had happened to me would be so much worse. And just being a nameless body on the battlefield would be even worse yet.

Obviously this is just my humble opinion, but I don't think there is anything more to this than gratitude and respect. I'm the daughter of a soldier and Vietnam vet, and I went to this tomb of the unknown soldier. One could easily tell who the military people and vets in the crowd were-- it was just the look on their faces and how they stood. It was the same with the VietNam wall. There is a lot of dignity and respect in the soldiers that guard this tomb, and a lot of dignity and respect in those who go to see it. I think it all comes down to "you had to be there..." in order for many of us to truly understand why.

aboslutely i understand the sentiments involved. i understand your explanation quite well and thanks for taking the time.

i have been to the cemetery and the experience was very humbling.

i would be sad to know that one of my family members died standing guard at an empty monument, but at the same time i somewhat grasp the concept.

it may be harder for me to understand bc i wasn't in the military and have never lost someone i loved or knew w/out knowing what happened to their remains, so the idea of what you are saying seems noble, just foreign to me.

It still doesn't really make sense to have guards there 24/7 just to show "respect". I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that. If you think about it hundreds of thousands of people die every week and I'm pretty sure most of the ones who disappear or get kidnapped are not having guards show their "respect" for them at empty tombs.

So why show respect to only soldiers, who most btw, "volunteered" to go fight for "freedom". While all the other people who die are not shown respect.

There must be something bigger and more important there. Other than that I don't see a point to have guards there. Respect is a good point, but EVERYDAY 24/7 just makes no sense.

I don't see anything unusual about this tomb being guarded.
Yes the tomb is empty.... But, it is also there for paying respect to all the soldiers who didn't make it home, and bodies weren't found or identified.

War is hell....

I seriously doubt there is some secret underground base under Arlington........

Originally posted by bobbylove321
It still doesn't really make sense to have guards there 24/7 just to show "respect".

If you were a member of the military, then it would make sense to you. I can attest to this, since i am a member of the military. It makes perfect sense to me as to why the tomb is there, and why it is guarded 24/7. They stand guard because they know that the person in that tomb, regardless of whether they volunteered or not, fought for something that meant more than themselves.

I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that. If you think about it hundreds of thousands of people die every week and I'm pretty sure most of the ones who disappear or get kidnapped are not having guards show their "respect" for them at empty tombs.

hundreds of thousands? every week? i'm pretty sure that you must not be talking about americans alone there, and if they weren't american, then let their country decide how to honor them.

So why show respect to only soldiers, who most btw, "volunteered" to go fight for "freedom". While all the other people who die are not shown respect.

this was the sentence that triggered my response to you. it's exactly because they volunteered that they should be shown respect. they are giving up their life, their freedom to do whatever they want whenever they want, so that you can go on doing whatever you want to do, which is apparently coming to this forum and spitting in their face, and my face, and any other soldier's face. I VOLUNTEERED to put myself in harm's way and possibly die so that YOU don't have to. While it's true that i don't agree with everything the army does, i do agree with protecting your freedom with my life, because it's not the words of a politician that has protected your freedom for 200 years, it's the blood of a soldier that has done so.

There must be something bigger and more important there. Other than that I don't see a point to have guards there. Respect is a good point, but EVERYDAY 24/7 just makes no sense.

bigger? more important? lets say for a moment that there IS an underground alien area 51 base under arlington national cemetary. They would not put anything important that would need to be guarded constantly in a place that can be approached by civilians EVER.

BTW, there's also a hidden base under the vietnam wall, and there's a UFO under water at the USS arizona memorial in pearl harbor, since there's more important things than remembering our fallen soldiers at those places.