Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
By: EFE
Thursday, October 10
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier turns 100 and for the first time, the public will be able to place offerings
WASHINGTON – The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia will open the next week to the public for the first time in 73 years, coinciding with the centenary of the monument.
This was announced by this Friday Defense Department spokesman John Kirby in a press conference, where he specified that the tomb will be accessible to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The American public will be able to follow the same steps that the guardians of the tomb and put flowers to the unknown soldier ”, said Kirby.
# Tomb 100 is less than a week away! On November 17, 1921, the World War I Unknown Soldier was buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In this image from the Library of Congress, you can see the crowds that came to Arlington National Cemetery to pay their respects. pic.twitter.com/pZfCMujnjU
– Arlington National Cemetery (@ArlingtonNatl) November 3, 2021
On Thursday there will be a parade to commemorate the centenary of the monument over which they will fly over 25 military aircrafts.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was created in 1200 after US Sergeant Edward Younger chose a coffin with the remains of an unidentified US serviceman, who died during World War I, to be placed in a marble sarcophagus in Arlington, outside of Washington DC.
E The mausoleum represents t All unidentified soldiers in the country who have died in wars in which the US has been involved. Similar monuments exist in some 60 countries of the world.
From 1948, a special military guard charged with preventing visitors from approaching the tomb has always been posted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, after it was open to the public for decades.