The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-05-27
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON


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- o ONE knows where he
E%3 was born. 1t may have
MA ~M been in Maine or in Cali
HIN VH fornia. Minnesota might
HIUk III claim that honor, or
IElttSN Louisiana. But the name
uuEE3 of the state doesn't mat
~ED ter, after all. For he was
an American.
No one knows in what outfit he
served. 1t may have been the infantry,
the cavalry or the artillery. Or he may
have worn the silver wings Of avia-
ton. But the branch of the service
doesn't matter. He was q soldier
a fighting man.
No one knows where or how he died.
1t may have been in Belleau Wood
or at ST. Mihiel, or somewhere on the
Somme that he "got his" A hand
grenade may have dealt him his death
wound during some trench raid or 1t
may have been burst Of shrapnel,
or a bayonet thrust when the fighting
was hand-to-hand. But that doesn't
matter, either. The thing that mat
tiers is that 'he died fighting" and the
flag for which he died was the Stars
and Stripes.
No one knows his name. It may
have been Smith, or O'Brien or Cohen
or Schwartz or Smedjkl. Or 1t might
have been Paul Two Lances-the
name by which he was once known in
the day school on some Indian reser-
walton out West. But his name and the
nationality of his parents are not
things that matter. He now bears
the proudest name that any man can
bear.
It's 1.-THE Unknown Soldier"
Five years ago they brought his
body back across the Atlantic and
on November IL, 1922, they placed 1t
In white marble tomb In a famous
cemetery near the nations capital
soldier home from the wars. Since
that time the great men Of his own
country have bowed their heads rev.
erently before his last resting place.
To it have come the great Of other
blood, princes, generals, admirals,
statesmen, have laid their wreaths
upon his tomb.
But all of this homage is as moth
Ing compared to that which is be-
Ing offered up in the hearts of all
Americans on May 80, 1927. For the
tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ar
lington cemetery is a national shrine
to which the thoughts Of all Americans
are turning on Memorial day this
year. 1t is more than a symbol of
the 1000 American soldiers killed in
battle "over there" whose names and
personal histories were unknown. The
honor paid to this one of the 1000,
he whose identity will forever remain
mystery, symbolizes more than a
nations grateful remembrance of the
thousands of men who lost their lives
In the World war. 1t is the incarna-
ton of the spirit Of Memorial day, a
day observed by nation in which
the word united" in its name has
new significance, nation pausing
In grateful remembrance of all the
soldiers who gave their lives in all
the wars In which their country has
ever been engaged. And 1t is here in
Arlington, where the Unknown Sol
der sleeps, that President Coolidge,
as the commander-in-chief of all
American soldiers and the first citi-
zen Of the land, will voice Americas
tribute to her soldier dead on Me-
mortal day this year.
The first memorial to the unknown
dead was erected In Arlington in 1866
1t was the impressive monument of
rough-hewn granite and polished
marble (pictured above) which bears
the following inscription, Beneath
this stone repose the bones Of 2,111
unknown soldiers gathered after the
war from the fields of Bull Run and
the route to the Rappahannock. Their
remains could not be identified but
their names and deaths are recorded
In the archives of their country; and
its grateful citizens honor them as of
their noble army of martyrs. May