The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-11-12
UNKNOWN DEAD
NOW SLEEPS IN
HIS NATIVE SOIL
Great Men From All Nations
Gather to Honor American
Hero-PreSident Hard
ing Speaks


his soul has entered into the apirit
that is America Wherever liberty is
held close in mems heart the honor
and the glory and the pledge of high
endeavor poured out qrer this name
less one OF fame will be told and sung
by Americans for all time.
Scrolled ACROSS the marble arch of
the memorial raised to American sol
der and sailor dead everywhere,
which sands like monument behind
his tomb, runs this legend:
We here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain" The
words were spoken by martyred Lin
coin of the dead at Gettysburg. And
today, with voice strong with deter
mination and ringing with deep emo
ton, another President echoed that
high tesolve over the coffin of the
soldier who died for the flag in
France.
Great men in the worlds affairs
heard that high purpose reiterated by
the man who stands at the head of
the American people. Tomorrow they
will gather in the city that stands
almost in the shadow of the new
American shrine of liberty dedicated
today. They viii talk of peace, of the
curbing of the havoc of war. They
will speak of the war in France that
robbed this soldier of life and name
and brought death to comrades of all
nations by the hundreds of thousands
And in their ears when they meet
must ring President Hardings decla-
ration today beside that flag wrapped
honor laden bier:
Against Armed Warfare
There must be, there shall be, the
commanding voice of conscious
civilization against armed warfare"
Far across the seas, other unknown
dead, hallowed in memory by their
countrymen as this American soldier
is enshrined in the heart of America,
sleep their last He in whose veins
ran the blood of British forebears lies
beneath a great stone in ancientl
" estminster abbey; he of France be-
meath the Arc de Triompie, and he of
Italy under the altar of the Father
land in Rome. And it seemed today
that they. too, must be here among
the Potomac hills to greet an Amer
lean comrade come TO join their glori-
Gus company, to testify their approval
of the high words of hope. spoken by
Americas President.
All day long the nation poured out
its heart in pride and glory for the
nameless American. Before the first
crash of the minute gun roared Its
knel for the dead from the shadow
OF Washington monument. the people
who claim him as their own. went
forth to do him honor They lined the
long road from the capitol to the hill
side where he sleeps tonight; they
flowed like a tide over the slopes
about his burial place; they choked
the bridges that lead across the river
to the fields of the brave in which he
is the latest.
Reverent Hush
AS he was carried past through the
banks of humanity that lined Penn
sylvania avenue, a solemn, reverent
hush held the living walls. Yet there
was not so much of sorrow as of high
pride in 1t ALL a pride beyond the
reach of the shouting and the clamor
that makes less sacred moments in
life's history.
Out there in the broad avenue was
simple soldier, dead for honor of
the flag. He was name1ess No man
knew what part in the great life of \
the nation he had filled But in
France he had died as Americans al |
ways have been ready to die for the |
flag and what 1t means. They read
the message of the pagean clear, the !
silent thousands along the way They |
stood In almost holy awe to take
!
the glory of the American people
honored here in the honors showered
on Americas nameless son from
France.
Army, navy and marines all played
their part in the thrilling spectacle
as the cortege rolled along. And Just
behind the casket with its faded |
French flowers on the draped flag.
walked the President. the leader Of
a hundred million in whose name he |
was chief mourner at this bier. Be-
sac him STROBE the man by whom the
unknown soldier had lived and died
IN France. General Pershing.
Nations Great.
And then row on row came ~
Great men who lead the nation TO-
day or have guided its destinies be-
fore They were all there, walI,in.r
proudly with age and fraflties of tha |
flesh forgotten. Judges. senator's
representatives.. highest officers If
every military arm of the government
and trudging little group of the !
nations most valorous sons, the Med |
al of Honor men. Some were gray
and bent and dropping with old
wounds; some trim and erect as the
day they won their way to fame. |
All walked gladly in this nameless
comrades last parade.
Behind these came the carriage in |
which rode Woodrow Wilson. also
stricken down by infrmities as he
served in the highest place of the
nation. just as the humble private
ridlng in state ahead. had gone down
before shell or bullet. For that
dead mans sake the former Presi- |
dent had put aside his dread of seem
ing to parade his physical weakness
and risked health, perhaps life. to APP
pear among the mourners for the
fallen. There was handclapping and
cheer here and there for the man
in the carriage, tribute to the shirt
that brought him to honor the ma :
tons nameless hero. whose comman-
der in chief he had been
President Harding
After President Harding and most
of the high dignitaries of government
had turned aside at the White House.
the procession headed by its solid
blocks of soldiers and the battalions
of sailor comrades. moved on with
Pershing now flanked by Secretaries
Weeks and DENLY, for the long road
to the tomb. 1t marched on. ALWAYS
between the human borders Of the
way of victory the nation had made
for itself of the great avenue; on
over the old bridge that spans the
Potomac, on up the long hill to Fort
Meyer. and at last to the gate OF
the great cemetery beyond where sol.
der and sailor folk sleep in tn,
thousands. There the numbering guns
of the artillery swung aside, the cav.
airy drew their horses out of the
Iong line and left to the foot soldiers
and the sailors and marines the last
stage of the journey
Ahezd the white marble OF the am
pEftdeatre Cleaned through the treas