'The Unknowns' Traces Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier's World War I Origins
Every Memorial Day, there’s a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. A new book tells the story of how that first soldier was selected and interred there.
Here & Now‘s Alex Ashlock went to Arlington to speak with Patrick O’Donnell (@combathistorian), author of “The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home.”
Book Excerpt: ‘The Unknowns’
by Patrick O’Donnell
“Fix bayonets!”
The piercing shriek of Marine whistles and guttural bellows of “Follow me!” trailed the order as men of Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Janson’s 49th Company emerged from the woods. Dawn turned gray, and light bathed the flowing fields of wheat that lay in front of the men. “Dewy poppies, red as blood” were sprinkled randomly through the waist-deep wheat.
The Marines advanced in Civil War–style formations.* As they gazed to
