Tomb of the Unknowns

Inside  the Arlington National Cemetery is the Tomb of the Unknowns. It's a  mandatory stop point for any visitor wanting to recognize and appreciate  the many sacrifices made by America. The tomb itself came from an act  of Congress, written, sponsored and published by Hamilton Fish, a  Congressman from New York who had fought with the Harlem Hellfighters in  World War I. 

Fish was the founding member of The American Legion and Chairman of the three person committee which wrote our American Legion Preamble. Fish  was elected as a Past National Commander in 1979. He served in Congress  for 24 years and lived to be 102. He accomplished many things during  his lifetime. One of them was the construction of the Tomb of the  Unknows (Soldiers).

On  December 21, 1920, Congressman Hamilton Fish introduced Resolution 67  of the 66th Congress, which provided for the return to the United States  the remains of an unknown American soldier killed in France during  World War I and for interment of his remains in a hallowed tomb to be  constructed outside the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National  Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from the  nation's capital. Congress approved the resolution on March 4, 1921. On  October 23, 1921 at Châlons-sur-Marne, France, about 90 miles from  Paris, remains of an unknown soldier were selected from among four  caskets containing remains of unknown American soldiers killed in  France. The selected remains were returned to the United States and  interred at the tomb site in Arlington on November 11, 1921 in solemn  ceremony following a state funeral procession from the U.S. Capitol  building where the World War I Unknown had lain in state. The tomb,  completed in 1937, came to be known as The Tomb of the Unknowns  (Soldiers) which is today guarded around the clock daily by elite  sentries of the U.S. Army's historic ceremonial but combat-ready 3rd  Infantry Regiment—"The Old Guard." The tomb, and unknown soldiers of  three U.S. wars interred there today, is thought to be the most hallowed  military site in the United States and may well be Fish's greatest  legacy to the nation.