The Colorado statesman., 1921-10-08
WILL BE BURIED IN ARLINGTON
ON ARMIsTIcE DAY WITH ALL
MILITARY CEREMONY.
REPRESENTS THE SERVICE
How II Happened That Many Who
Died in France Could Not Be ld-n.
tilted, Despite the Disks They Were
Given.
BY EDWARD q. CLARK.

tfleS WHICH TOOK thTl III lnt SIthA
war MS allies against the central pow
"rS of Europe, an unknown American
'.,idier will he buried on Armistice day
q" the national cemetery nt Arlington.
tie highest military honors which It
a. possible to give will be accorded the
unknown warrior.
Already In England and in France
the bodies of unknown soldiers Of
those countries have been buried with
every possible tribute. The French
soldier lies under the Are de Tri-
"uphe, and the British soldier within
;hc walls of Westminster abbey.
Gen. John j. Pershing. commanding
general OF the American army, is now
oa his way to France. where he will
participate in the ceremony of award
Ing the American Medal Of Honor
voted by the American congress, 10
the unknown soldier of France, whose
h"ds lies under the great triumphal
arch
If General Pershlng has time before
his presence is needed in the United
states To welcome Marshal Foch and
other foreign military officers, he will
ffNi' N4llElVilb anu llitlA' iil' ANY i''''''
Mcdal of Honor upon the grave of the
Unknown British soldier. who lies in
Westminster abbey, In case he can
u"r visit England. the medal ceremony
will hc performed by another Ameri-
can military officer Of high rank.
Represents Spirit Of the Service.
The unknown American soldier,
whose body is TO he buried in Airing
ton or Armis' ice day, will rest in tho
great anphitheater which has within
its encircllng walls n Hall of Fame.
The soldier will he the only unknown
Nmerican to rest within the enclosure.
Unknown ns he is, this American mem
er of the cNpcditionary force is In
ointment supposed to represent the
spirit Of the service and the willing
ness for sacrifice Of all Americans
who entered the army or navy during
the great war. That he is not known
adds. Of course. to the somewhat mys'
ticnl nature of the ennobling cere-
nonS.
who is the unknown soldier? No
Que car answer. It is certain. of
course. that the American authorities.
and the British and French authorities,
used every effort to determine the
identity of the unknown before max
Ing the bodies the subjects and the cen
tors of the tributes Of the nations.
good many unknown soldiers were bur
led iu she fields of France. Since their
.buriai. some of the unknown dead have
been identified but Identification la
mnny crscs has been due more to ac-
cident than to anything else.
Every soldier and sailor In the
American army, officer or enlisted
mnn. was supposed to wear on his
person two Identification disks. Some
times three were worn, one on the
wrist and two about the neck pendent
from cords When soldier was bur
led on the field one of his Identified
tion disks was buried with him and
the other was kept for reference. I'm
less the burial was under fire, or nee
essnrily hurried for some reason. the
grave always was marked with the
Identification number of the dead and
with the number of his regiment ana
the letter Of his company. These pre-
iiminary precautions made It possible
in almost every case to fix the iden-
ity Of the fallen.
Discarded or Lost Their Disks.
Soldiers sometimes did curious
things which 1t is hard to explain.
A number of men threw away thoir
Identification disks or else lost them,
although how they could be lost il is
hard to explain. The cords by which
the disks were suspended from the
neck and hidden under the blouse We're
stout tapes which years of wear SEEM
Iagly would not abrade to the break
ing point The tapes and pendants
were not supposed to be removed.
ia all the armies which fought the
Germans on the western front 1t was
found at times that soldiers who had
been killed bore no Identification tags
There were n few cases in which all
the insignia on the mans clothing had
been removed. In most of these cases
the presumption was that the bodies
lay unburied after temporary re.
treat and that the Germans removed
the tags and the regimental identlfi-
cation marks for the purpose of deter
mining just what units of the enemy
lay Mt their front. This Is regarded,
of course, as being n Legitimate act In
warfare for ii Is of the greatest serv-
ice sometimes to the commanding ofii-
Ger to know with whom he is to deal
at his front.
Watson May Be Senate Leader.
During the vacation time the Re-
nubiicap senators who remained in
washington interested themselves In
ouiet discussions as to who should
be the temporary leader of the party
In the senate while Senator Lodge
is serving in the room of the
conference on the Limitation of arma
,,.c..s md Far East problems. There Is