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Oklahoma Station Safari Trails – May 2011

At Arlington National Cemetery , in a solemn and formal ceremony conducted jointly with the Tomb’s military guard, we placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

…FOR THOSE WHO GAVE ALL IN ORDER TO EARN AND TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOM…

[Above: my three fellow delegates and I, and the Sergeant of the Guard, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.]

The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and has never been officially named. The Tomb of the Unknowns stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater.

The white marble sarcophagus has a flat-faced form and is relieved at the corners and along the sides by neo-classic pilasters, or columns, set into the surface. Sculpted into the east panel which faces Washington, D.C., are three Greek figures representing Peace, Victory, and Valor.

The Tomb sarcophagus was placed above the grave of the Unknown Soldier of World War I. West of the World War I Unknown are the crypts of unknowns from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Those three graves are marked with white marble slabs flush with the plaza.

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