Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Resolution Analysis

This activity is appropriate as a conclusion to World War I, in a discussion of monuments, or to support Veterans or Memorial Day. For grades 5-8. Approximate time needed is 20 minutes.

Students can work on the activity individually, in pairs, or as a full class. Direct students to begin by taking a minute to examine the document, then responding to the questions that follow, which will guide them through the process of written document analysis:

• Meet the document.
• Observe its parts.
• Try to make sense of it.
• Use it as historical evidence.

If necessary, check in with your students at each step in the process and model analysis if required.

After completing and discussing the analysis questions, direct students to click on “When You’re Done” where they will see an image of the tomb and learn that:

With more than 100,000 American casualties from the first World War, the large numbers of unidentified dead posed an unprecedented repatriation challenge for the United States. In December 1920, New York Congressman and WWI veteran Hamilton Fish, Jr., proposed legislation “to bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed, or race in the late war and who typifies, moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead.”

 

On November 11, 1921, the repatriated remains of an unknown member of the American Expeditionary Forces were interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Since then, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has provided a final resting place for Unknowns from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It has grown into a powerful national symbol of service and sacrifice.

 

To this day, the Tomb is protected 24 hours a day by members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment (also known as the Old Guard). The President (or their designee) has placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans and Memorial Day each year.

Students should respond to the following question that is provided:

• Why do you think the United States honors the Unknown Soldier in such a way?