“They buried him among the kings”
ONE HUNDRED years ago, a solemn and moving ceremony was held at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. General John Pershing, commander of the United States expeditionary forces in Europe during the First World War, awarded the Medal of Honour – his country’s highest military honour – to the symbolic serviceman representing more than a million British and Empire comrades killed or missing during the conflict.
A month later, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington on November 11, 1921, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty attended the burial of the American Unknown Warrior to award the Victoria Cross as a reciprocal gesture.
In the United States, the Victoria Cross was able to be placed in the coffin. In Britain, where our warrior was entombed in 1920, the Medal of Honour is hung nearby.
This poignant exchange of medals was overshadowed by the inauguration of the
