Army May Replace Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier
The Army plans to make a decision by the end of the month whether to replace the 71-year-old Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
The decision would be the culmination of years of debate over how to treat several non-structural cracks that officials say diminish the aesthetic value of the 48-ton white marble monument.
“We want to have as flawless as possible a monument to our unknown soldiers,” said Army spokesman Sheldon Smith. “But no final decisions have been made.”
Mr. Smith said the Army is leaning toward replacing the tomb because the quarry that supplied the marble for the existing tomb has offered to donate a new stone to the cemetery and engrave it. The existing tomb would be donated to the Smithsonian Institution or a military museum if it is replaced.
But that proposal has drawn criticism by some historic preservation groups who think the existing tomb is what makes the monument historically significant. Built to honor unidentified dead soldiers from America’s wars, the monument carries the inscription: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
“It’s our nation’s most important war memorial,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. Moe favors repairing the monument. “It should be left in place, so we can honor its history and symbolism.”
In an e-mail obtained by The Washington Times, Army Cultural Resources Program Manager Scott Watson asked that the parties involved in the proposal provide input by Aug. 27 for the review process, referred to as the Section 106 process after the enabling legislation, so a decision could be made by Sept. 30.
“Our goal is to complete the Section 106 process and have the [agreement] executed by the four signatories by September 30, 2007,” Mr. Watson said.
The agreement must be signed by Arlington National Cemetery, the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Department of Veteran Affairs by the date.
Mr. Smith said he could not verify whether there was a target date by which the decision must be made. However, he said that there was “a sense of urgency because the marble is not going to be in the quarry forever.”
Mr. Smith said if the quarry is unable to excavate marble that is of the same quality as the existing stone, it will resort to repairing the existing stone.
Rob Neiwig, a spokesman for the national trust, said the group has been asking the public to write letters to Arlington National Cemetery Superintendent John Metzler opposing the replacement of the monument.
Mr. Neiwig said about 3,700 people have sent e-mails to Mr. Metzler through the National Trust’s Web site since a notice and form letter about the proposal were posted on Sept. 12.
Mr. Moe said he advocates repairing the marble because the replacement will likely suffer similar cracks, an assessment that was reported in a review of repair and replacement done by the cemetery last year.
“It’s nearly impossible to get a piece of marble without imperfections,” Mr. Moe said. “Anyone who deals in marble knows that.”
The most noticeable crack in the monument cuts right through the middle, prominent enough that it even appears on a scale model of the tomb in the cemetery visitors center. It cuts in half the sculpted figures of Greeks representing peace, victory and valor on one side, and runs right below the words “An American,” as if underlining it for emphasis.
The tomb has been patched repeatedly, most recently in 1989. But a 1990 report concluded the fissures would only get worse.
The 200 acres of land around the Arlington Mansion were designated as a military cemetery in 1864. More than 300,000 people are buried there, making it the second-largest national cemetery in the country, according to the cemetery’s Web site.
About 6,400 people are buried at Arlington annually.
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Monuments should be preserved, not replaced.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:54 pmI don’t think so. Their is going to be stiff resistance by the preservationists to stop the removal.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:17 pmBack in ‘82 I started pushing a lawnmower around every tombstone in Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery, not by myself, there were eight of us and as the summer went on we must have passed over all 276 acres ten times. Did that for three and a half summers. There were Revolutionary War, Grand Army of the Republic and all the wars the US had been involved in. I’m pretty sure that even Red Jacket, a very well respected original Western New Yorker, a Seneca was there. Millard Fillmore is also there. Plus three hundred years of Buffalonians. Get to the point, stone doesn’t last forever, look at the pyramids. The older the stones that I walked around the more difficult it was to read them. Maybe they could do a new copy of the present Memorial. I’m sure they’ll do the right thing.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:44 pmLeave it in place. My God why won’t you let my brothers rest in peace. It was meant to honor them, not be a fucking tourist trap. Fuck the world. Fuck em all. Go Army. You get it.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:33 amIt’s worth noting that …
Mary Oehrlein, a preservation expert and author of the Cemetery’s own 1990 study of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument stated recently: “The existing monument can easily be repaired, as was done 17 years ago, using conventional conservation methods to re-grout the cracks. Once repaired, the fault lines would be virtually invisible from the public viewing areas.”
September 21st, 2007 at 4:32 amReplace the damaged stone. Keep the monument the same design, but give it new life. Are we honoring the men or the stone? Even the flag is retired and replaced, hopefully respectfully, when old and tattered.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:09 pmSenator Daniel Akaka and Senator Jim Webb yesterday submitted Senate Amendment 2995 to the Defense Authorization Bill, which would provide a welcome reprieve for the historic Tomb of the Unknowns.
If it is enacted, Senate Amendment 2995 would stop the rush to discard the authentic monument and, instead, require a thorough re-consideration of repairing the monument’s cosmetic cracks. Here is the full text of the Akaka-Webb amendment:
SEC. 1044. REPORT ON PLANS TO REPLACE THE MONUMENT AT THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWNS AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VIRGINIA.
(a) Report Required.–Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit to Congress a report setting forth the following:
(1) The current plans of the Secretaries with respect to –
(A) replacing the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia; and
(B) disposing of the current monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns, if it were removed and replaced.
(2) An assessment of the feasibility and advisability of repairing the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns rather than replacing it.
(3) A description of the current efforts of the Secretaries to maintain and preserve the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
(4) An explanation of why no attempt has been made since 1989 to repair the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
(5) A comprehensive estimate of the cost of replacement of the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns and the cost of repairing such monument.
(6) An assessment of the structural integrity of the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
(b) Limitation on Action.–The Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not take any action to replace the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, until 180 days after the date of the receipt by Congress of the report required by subsection (a).
(c) Exception.–The limitation in subsection (b) shall not prevent the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from repairing the current monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns or from acquiring any blocks of marble for uses related to such monument, subject to the availability of appropriations for that purposes.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:10 pm