The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1921-10-06
WILL BE BURIED IN ARLINGTON
ON ARMlsTice DAY WITH ALL
MILITARY CEREMONY.
REPRESENTS THE SERVICE
How II Happened That Many Who
Died in France Could Not Be iden.
tilted, Despite the Disks They Were
Given.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

ranking military officers Of all coun-
tries which took n parish the great
war rs allies against the central pow.
ers of Europe. an unknown American
soldier will he buried on 'Arnistlce day
In the national cemetery at Arlington.
The highest military honors which u
IL possible To give viii 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 Arc lie Tri-
omphe, and the British soldier within
the walls Of Westminster abbey.
Gen. John J. Pershing. commanding
general Of the American army, Is now
on HID way to France. where he will
participate In the ceremony Of award
ing the American Medal of Honor.
voted by the American congress, to
the unknown soldier of France, whose
body lies under the great triumphaI
arch
II General Pershing has time before
his presence Is needed In the United
States To welcome Marshal Foch and
other foreign military officers. he will
visit England and place the American
Medal Of Honor upon the grave Of the
unknown British soldier, who lies IN
Westminster abbey. In case he can
not visit England. the medal ceremony
will be- performed by another Ameri-
can military officer of high rank.
Represents Spirit Of the Service.
The unknown American soldier.
whose body is TO be buried in Airing
ton on Armistice day, will rest in the
great amphitheater which has within
It's cucircling walls Hall of Fame.
The soldier will he the only unknown
American Ia rest within the enclosure.
Uhknuwn as he is. this American mem
her Of the expeditionary force is IN
spirit of the service aud 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.
ticsl nature Of the enrolling cere.
mony.
Who is the unknown SOLDIER M
one can answer. Ii Is certain, ~
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
tiers of the tributes of the nations. A
good many unknown soldiers were bur
led in the fields Of France. Since their
burial some Of the unknown dead have
been identified. hut Identification in
many cases has been due more to ac.
cident than to anything else.
Every soldier and sailor In the
American army. officer or enlisted
man. 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 a 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.
essarily hurried for some reason. the
grave always was marked with the
identification number Of the dead and
with the number of his regiment and
the letter Of his company. These pre-
limInary precautions nf,de II possible
in almost every case TO fix the lden.
'ity ~ the fallen.
Discarded or Lost Their Disks.
Soldiers sometimes did curious
things which II is hard to xplan
A number of men threw away their
identification disks or else lost llrr
although how they could be- lost II IL
hard Ia explain. The cords by which
the disks were suspended from the
neck and hidden under the blouse wer.
stout tapes which years Of wear seem.
ingly would not abrade to the bleak
ing point. The tapes and pendants
were not supposed to be removed
In all the armies which fought the
Germans ON the western front II was
found AT times that soldiers who had
There We're IA few cases In which an
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 regmental identiff
cation marks for the purpose Of deter.
mining just what units of the enemy
lay at their front. This is regarded
of course, as being legitimate net ia
warfare for Il is OF the greatest serv
ice sometimes 10 the commanding IN!
Ger "a know with whom he Is To deal
nj MS front.
Watson May Be Senate Leader.
During the vacation time the Re.
publican senators who remained In
Wa >hington Interested themselves IN
aulr discussions as 10 who should
be he temporary header Of the party
In the senrte white senator Lodge
In serving In me room of the
conference on the Limitation at arlnn.