Beech Tree News Network

The Green River Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution with Regent Melanie Hunt organized a Bell Ringing Ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on November 11,2021.   All over America people were ringing bells twenty-one times to Honor what our Veterans have sacrificed for us.  On a rainy, misty morning, Scout Don Elmore from Troop 208 rang the bell on the Courthouse lawn at 11:00 am, Chaplin Elaine Daugherty led everyone in Prayer, and Judge-Executive Tim Flener led the Pledge of Allegiance. Melanie gave a history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Doug Odle performed a somber rendition of Taps to close out the ceremony.

One hundred years ago on a morning much like today, President Warren G. Harding and hundreds of statesmen, citizens, and Veterans marched through Washington, DC, and crossed the Potomac River to Arlington Cemetery. A horse-drawn caisson carrying the wooden casket of the Unknown from an American cemetery in France, where thousands of soldiers were buried, slowly made its way to the Tomb. President Harding placed the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, on the casket. On the west side of the Tomb is an inscription, "Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God. "

One of the consequences of war is that many of the soldiers killed in action were never identified. So then, beginning in World War One, the military began to issue "Dog Tags "to help remedy this problem.

In May of 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower placed Medals of Honor on Caskets of the Unknown from World War Two and the Korean War. The crypt of the Vietnam War Unknown is vacant because advances in technology have been able to identify all remains. Since 1937 the "Old Guard, "the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, has been standing watch twenty-one hours a day, seven days a week over the Tomb, in the rain, sleet, or snow.

"Now is the time to reflect on the sacrifices our troops have made for all of us. Freedom is not Free. Thank You, Veterans."