subject: World War I - The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier [print this page] World War I - The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Throughout The Great War, the slaughter over the fields of Flanders was on an horrific scale with several bodies never identified or recovered. On 11th November 1920, simultaneously ceremonies were held both in London and Paris to unveil tombs of unknown soldiers.
The tomb of the unknown soldier came to depict the loss suffered by the families of soldiers who fell and their bodies were never identified or brought back. The unknown French soldier lies in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris while the unknown British soldier lies entombed in Westminster Abbey along with kings and statesmen.
The concept was first talked about by a clergyman named Reverend David Railton. In 1916 in France, he'd found a cross with the words "An Unknown British Soldier" written on it. 4 years later in 1920, Railton approached the Dean of Westminster indicating it would be acceptable to create a nationally recognised grave for an unidentified soldier.
4 British servicemen were exhumed from Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres and taken to a chapel at St Pol, close to Arras. Every body was covered in a Union flag and one was chosen by Brigadier General L J Wyatt. Wyatt had no idea where the bodies had been taken from or their rank. The point was that the unknown soldier could quite possibly have been anyone from a Private to a Colonel, a colonial labourer to the son of an Earl.
The soldiers casket was brought to London and was taken to Westminster Abbey in a horse drawn gun carriage. The cortege was accompanied by King George V and members from the Royal family. At Westminster Abbey, it was flanked by a guard of one hundred winners of the Victoria Cross.
The coffin was positioned and covered with soil carried from the battlefields of World War I. It was topped with a block of black marble from Belgium and it is the only tombstone in Westminster Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.
Ever since then, several other nations have devoted similar tombs including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
