Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-11-10
"kNOWN BUT TO GOD"

Again this Armistice day the army
Of the United States and World war
veterans associations will pay hom~
age at the shrine Of Americas I'm
known Soldier of the A. E. +. Our
Nameless Warrior rests in beauti-
full marble tomb in Arlington GEM
etery, across the Potomac from
Washington. and on that tomb is
inscribed: "Here rests in honored
glory an American soldier, known
but to God"
Truly is che known but to God.
taken to insure the Unknown Sol
dier's' perpetual anonymity. No one
will ever know who he is, where he
came from, the organization with
which he served cover there when
struck down, or anything about his
background, history or racial strain
All America knows of the honors
it's Unknown Soldier who represents
the many hundred Of unidentified
and unidentifiable dead among the
more than $4,000 American soldiers
who made the supreme sacrifice in
battle action during the World war.
But few Americans know just how
when and where this One Unknown
was chosen, and under what impress
sive dramatic circumstances the
final selection was made.
In France are six military ceme-
teries of the A. E. r. Another such
Gods Acre" of our overseas fight
ing forces is in Belgium, and anoth
er in England The six A. e. F.
military cemeteries in France are
known as neMarne, near Cha
teau Thierry; Meuse-Argonne, near
Romagne; OiseAisne, near Fere-en-
Tardenois; Somme, near Bony; st.
Mihiel, near Triaucourt, and Sures-
nes, on the outskirts of Paris. The
cemetery in Belgium, known as the
Flanders Field cemetery, is near
Waerghem, and the hallowed spot in
England is located outside of Lon
don and is known as Brookwood
cemetery.
Most of the little white crosses in
our overseas military cemeteries
bear an identifying legend showing
the name, rank, and organization Of
him who sleeps beneath the sod of
that country which he died to help
defend. But on many of those tiny
white crosses there is nothing but
a pitiful little number and the
same legend, "Here Rests in Honor
ed Glory an American Soldier
Known But to God,' which appears
on the Tomb of the Unknown Sol
dier in Arlington cemetery, Vir-
ginia.
Late in October, 1921, one body
of such an unknown soldier Was
disinterred from each of four of
these overseas cemeteries-Aisne-
Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Somme, and
st. Mihiel. Tenderly, these four
bodies were conveyed by a special
military guard of honor to the quiet
town of Chalons-sur-Marn where
at the Hotel de Vile Getty HalD
four catafalques had been made
ready and a major of the Quarter
master Corps, U. S. army, received
the caskets containing the bodies.
AS each officer in charge of a
body turned it over to this major
he also handed in the form pertain
ing to it's burial. Another officer,
in the presence of the major, then
solemnly destroyed this form con-
tanning all the bare fragments of in
formation about the dead man:
where, when and how he was found
dead on the field of battle, what ef-
forts had been made to identify him,
etc., and in what A. E. f. cemetery
he had been buried. At the same
time the duplicate records pertain
ing to each of these unknown sol
diers, known only by assigned num-
bers, were destroyed in Paris and In
Washington. Thus even the bare
record was in each instance forever
DESTROYED. Once the four caskets
were placed upon the catafalques In
the Chalons, ,sur-Marne City Hall on
the morning Of October "a, 1921, III