Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

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Throughout history, many soldiers have died in wars without their remains being identified. In modern times, nations have developed the practice of having a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that represents the war grave of those unidentified soldiers. They usually contain the remains of a dead soldier who is unidentified (or "known but to God" as the stone is sometimes inscribed) and thought to be impossible ever to identify, so that he might serve as a symbol for all of the unknown dead wherever they fell. The anonymity of the entombed soldier is key to the symbolism of the monument: since his or her identity is unknown, it could theoretically be the tomb of anyone who fell in service of the nation in question, and therefore serves as a monument to all of their sacrifices. Much work goes into trying to find a certain soldier, and to verify that it is indeed one of the relevant nation's soldiers.

Contents 1 History 2 National examples 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

Perhaps the first memorial of this kind in the world is the 1858 Landsoldaten ("The Foot Soldiers") monument of the First War of Schleswig in Fredericia, Denmark. Another early memorial of this kind is the 1866 memorial to the unknown dead of the American Civil War.

The modern trend was started after First World War when both France and the United Kingdom erected a tomb for unknown soldiers in 1920. The French tomb was installed under the Arc de Triomphe, and the decision to erect it was confirmed by Parliament before a similar idea had even been publicised in the United Kingdom. In the case of the United Kingdom, an Unknown Warrior was chosen on behalf of all First World War British Empire forces in Westminster Abbey. The coffin was followed into the abbey by the King-Emperor, George V and escorted by a guard of honour formed of one hundred recipients of the Victoria Cross.^[1] Part of the inscription on the stone reads:

They buried him among the kings Because he Had done good toward God and Toward His house^[2]

These tombs are also used to commemorate the unidentified fallen of later wars. Monuments have been built as recently as 1982 in the case of Iraq, 1993 in the case of Australia, and 2004 in the case of New Zealand.

[edit] National examples

Countries	Location	Image	Description
Argentina	Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires		Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Independence
Australia	Australian War Memorial in Canberra		The tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier.
Austria	Heldenplatz in Vienna
Belgium	Colonnade of the Congress in Brussels		The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the location.
Bolivia	Monumento al Soldado Desconocido in La Paz		The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, center piece of the location.
Brazil	Monument to the Pracinhas in Rio de Janeiro		The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the platform of the location.
Bulgaria	Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia
Bulgaria	Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Haskovo
Canada	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial, Confederation Square, in Ottawa		King George VI unveiled the National War Memorial, Confederation Square, in Ottawa, Ontario, during his 1939 visit, months before the Second World War began. The Memorial features 23 bronze figures, representing people who fought in the First World War, emerging from an memorial arch, moving from war into peace. Overhead, winged figures symbolize Peace and Liberty. The dates commemorating the Second World War (1939-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953) were added in 1982. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added in 2000. Located on the upper plaza, in front of the existing National War Memorial monument, a dark Caledonia granite sarcophagus 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 3 feet high encloses a casket containing the remains of the unknown soldier. A bronze relief sculpture is secured to the top with stainless steel pins. The four corner pieces of the sarcophagus also has bronze relief work. The unidentified soldier was selected from a cemetery in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge, the site of a famous Canadian battle of the First World War.The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was created to honour the more than 116,000 Canadians whether they be navy, army, air force or merchant marine, who died or may die for their country in all conflicts - past, present, and future. See a 360-degree Virtual Tour of the National War Memorial on http://www.ottawakiosk.com/panos/sparks_street_4.html
Chile	General Manuel Baquedano Square in Santiago		Contains the remains of a soldier who died in 1881 during the War of the Pacific.
Czech Republic	National Memorial on Žižkov (Vítkov) Hill in Prague
Denmark	Fredericia		Called Landsoldaten ("The Foot Soldier") monument.
Egypt	Unknown Soldier Memorial (Cairo)		Also includes the tomb of President Anwar Sadat.
Estonia	Cemetery of the Estonian Defence Forces in Tallinn.
Finland	Hietaniemi military cemetery in Helsinki
France	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
Germany	Unter den Linden, Berlin		Within a 19th century guardhouse, the Neue Wache
Greece	Syntagma Square (Constitution Square), Athens
Hungary	Heroes' Square, Budapest
Iraq	The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Baghdad
India	India Gate, New Delhi		Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Warrior)
Indonesia	Bandung		The Field of Honor is a memorial to unknown soldiers. There is also the Tomb of the Unknown (Dutch) Sailor in Kembang Kuning war cemetery in Surabaya.
Italy	Rome, Piazza Venezia		The Tomb of the Milite Ignoto in the Altare della Patria (Vittoriano)
Japan	Ryozen Kannon, Kyoto		Monument erected in memory of the more than 48,000 foreign soldiers who perished on Japanese territory or on territory under Japanese military control.
Lithuania	Kaunas, Vienybės Square		Tomb of Nežinomas kareivis, with remains of soldier who died in fights with Bolsheviks in 1919.
Malaysia	Tugu Negara, Kuala Lumpur		Completed in 1966 to commemorate combatants who fought against Japanese occupation of pre-independence Malaysia in World War II and the Malayan National Liberation Army insurgency during the Malayan Emergency. Also includes a pre-independence cenotaph, which was shifted from its original location closer to the old town of Kuala Lumpur, commemorating the war dead of World War I, World War II and the Malayan Emergency.
New Zealand	Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, National War Memorial in Wellington
Peru	Plaza Bolivar (Bolivar Square) in Lima		Contains the remains of a soldier who died in 1881 during the War of the Pacific.
Philippines	Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes) in Manila
Poland	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Marshall Józef Piłsudski Square in Warsaw		Constructed as the arcade of Saxon Palace, which was destroyed in 1944. Contains the remains of a soldier who died between 1918 and 1920.
Portugal	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Monastery of Batalha
Romania	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Carol Park, Bucharest
Russia	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Alexander Garden, Moscow
Serbia	Monument to the Unknown Hero, Mt. Avala, Belgrade
Slovenia	Monument to the Unknown French Soldier, French Revolution Square in Ljubljana
Syria	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Damascus.
Turkey	Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial (in Turkish: Çanakkale Şehitleri Anıtı)		Erected for the unknown martyrs of the Çanakkale Front, which was the arena for the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Opened on 20 August 1960. Another monument at the same site is for the foreign soldiers (mostly Australian and New Zealand Army Corps [ANZAC]) lost in the same clash.
Ukraine	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Dnieper Park, Kiev
Ukraine	Monument to the Unknown Sailor, Shevchenko Park in Odessa
United Kingdom	Tomb of The Unknown Warrior, Westminster Abbey in London
United States	Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
United States	Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, Washington Square in Philadelphia
United States	Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier, Beauvoir, Biloxi, Mississippi
Venezuela	Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Carabobo Field, Carabobo

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Landsoldaten

Coordinates: 50°51′0.4″N 4°21′48.5″E / 50.850111°N 4.363472°E / 50.850111; 4.363472