Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

In World War I, huge numbers of soldiers died without their remains being identified. The practice developed for nations to have a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that represented those unidentified soldiers.

They usually contain the remains of a dead soldier who is unidentified, and is thought to be impossible to ever indentify. Much work goes into trying to find a certain soldier, and to verify that it is indeed one of you own soldiers.

The most famous, and earliest, is that in France under the Arc de Triomphe that was istalled after the First World War.

These tombs are also used to represent the unidentified fallen of later wars.

Examples include:

• Australia: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial in Canberra
• Canada: the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial, Confederation Square, in Ottawa (formerly at Vimy Ridge in France)
• France: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
• Italy: the tomb of the Milite Ignoto is in Rome, piazza Venezia, in the Altare della Patria (Vittoriano).
• United Kingdom: the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey in London
• United States: the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC
• add other countries' memorials

External links

• U.S. Tomb of the Unknowns (http://www.mdw.army.mil/FS-A04.HTM)
• U.S. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Facts (http://www.mdw.army.mil/FS-A11.HTM)
• Remembrance Day (http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/remembrance/remembrance_tradition.htm)