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*
* * By virtue of an act of Congress approved 4 March 1921,
the Medal of Honor, emblem of highest ideals and virtues, is
bestowed in the name of the Congress of the United States
upon the unknown, unidentified British soldier and French
soldier buried, respectively, in Westminster Abbey and Arc
de Triomphe.
Whereas: Great Britain and France, two of the Allies of the
United States in the World War, have lately done honor to
the unknown dead of their armies by placing with fitting
ceremony the body of an unknown, unidentified soldier,
respectively, in Westminster Abbey and in the Arc de
Triomphe; and
Whereas: animated by the same spirit of comradeship in which
we of the American forces fought alongside these Allies, we
desire to add whatever we can to the imperishable glory won
by the deeds of our Allies and commemorated in part by this
tribute to their unknown dead: Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
President of the United States of America be, and he hereby
is, authorized to bestow with appropriate ceremonies,
military and civil, the Medal of Honor upon the unknown,
unidentified British soldier buried in Westminster Abbey,
London, England, and upon the unknown, unidentified French
soldier buried in the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France (A.G.
220.523) (War Department General Orders, No. 52, 1 Dec.
1922, Sec. II).
At
the west end of the Nave of Westminster Abbey is the grave of
the Unknown Warrior, whose body was brought from France to be
buried here on 11th November 1920. The grave, which contains
soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble
from a quarry near Namur.
Around the main inscription are four texts:
(top) THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS,
(sides) GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS
UNKNOWN AND YET WELL KNOWN, DYING AND
BEHOLD WE LIVE,
(base) IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE.
Selecting the Unknown Warrior
The idea of such a burial seems first to have come to a
chaplain at the Front, the Reverend David Railton (1884-1955),
when he noticed in 1916 in a back garden at Armentières, a
grave with a rough cross on which were pencilled the words "An
Unknown British Soldier". In August 1920 he wrote to the Dean
of Westminster, Herbert Ryle, through whose energies this
memorial was carried into effect. The body was chosen from
unknown British servicemen exhumed from four battle areas, the
Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. (some sources say six
bodies but confirmed accounts say four).
The remains were brought to the chapel at St. Pol on the night
of 7th November 1920. The General Officer in charge of troops
in France and Flanders, Brigadier General L.J. Wyatt, with
Colonel Gell, went into the chapel alone, where the bodies on
stretchers were covered by Union Flags. They had no idea from
which area the bodies had come. General Wyatt selected one and
the two officers placed it in a plain coffin and sealed it.
The other three bodies were reburied. General Wyatt said they
were re-buried at the St Pol cemetery but Lt. (later Major
General Sir) Cecil Smith says they were buried beside the
Albert-Baupaume road to be discovered there by parties
searching for bodies in the area.
In the morning Chaplains of the Church of England, the Roman
Catholic Church and Non-Conformist churches held a service in
the chapel before the body was escorted to Boulogne to rest
overnight. The next day the coffin was placed inside another
which had been sent over specially from England made of
two-inch thick oak from a tree which had grown in Hampton
Court Palace garden, lined with zinc. It was covered with the
flag that David Railton had used as an altar cloth during the
War (known as the Ypres or Padre's Flag, which now hangs in St
George's Chapel). Within the wrought iron bands of this coffin
had been placed a 16th century crusader's sword from the Tower
of London collection. The inner coffin shell was made by
Walter Jackson of the firm of Ingall, Parsons & Clive
Forward at Harrow, north London and the larger coffin was
supplied by the undertakers in charge of the arrangements,
Nodes & Son.
The coffin plate bore the inscription:
"A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918
for King and Country."
The ironwork and coffin plate were made by D.J. Williams of
the Brunswick Ironworks at Caernarfon in Wales. The destroyer
HMS Verdun, whose ship's bell was presented to the Abbey and
now hangs near the grave, transported the coffin to Dover and
it was then taken by train to Victoria station in London where
it rested overnight.
The grave was filled in, using 100 sandbags of earth from the
battlefields, on 18th November and then covered by a temporary
stone with a gilded inscription on it:
"A BRITISH WARRIOR WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 FOR
KING AND COUNTRY. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS."
New stone and the Congressional Medal
On 11th November 1921 the present black marble stone was
unveiled at a special service. The stone (size 7 feet by 4
feet 3 inches, depth 6 inches) was supplied and lettered by Mr
Tomes of Acton and the brass for the inscription supplied by
Nash & Hull. Benjamin Colson carried out the brass work.
The Padre's Flag was also formerly dedicated at this service.
General Pershing, on behalf of the United States of America,
conferred the Congressional Medal of Honor on the Unknown
Warrior on 17th October 1921 and this now hangs in a frame on
a pillar near the grave. In October 2013 the Congressional
Medal of Honor Society presented the Society's official flag
to the Unknown Warrior and this is framed below the medal.
The body of the Unknown Warrior may be from any of the three
services, Army, Navy or Air Force, and from any part of the
British Isles, Dominions or Colonies and represents all those
who died who have no other memorial or known grave.
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