A must-see place in Arlington National Cemetery is the tomb of the unknow soldier. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built in 1921 and now houses the remains of three unknown soldiers who died in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Originally, the body of an unnamed U.S. soldier killed in the Vietnam War was buried here, but by 1998, after DNA technology comparison, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the identity of the remains, which was Michael Joseph Blassie, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. On May 11, 1972, Lieutenant Blisi was shot down and killed while flying a plane in the An Loc area of Vietnam, and the U.S. military was unable to identify the remains due to serious damage to the remains and belongings. His body was buried on 28 May 1984 at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. After identification, Lieutenant Blicy's body was moved back to his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri for burial.
■ Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Under the large stone tablets are the bodies of an unknown soldier who died in World War I, and under the white stone slabs on the left and right sides of the ground are the coffins of two unknown soldiers who died in World War II and the Korean War, and the white stone slab in the middle is where Lieutenant Brissey was buried. After his body was removed, it remains vacant to commemorate all U.S. soldiers who disappeared during the Vietnam War.
In front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a guard dressed in a dress, wearing sunglasses and carrying an M14 rifle on his shoulder patrolled back and forth. Since 1937, the U.S. Army has officially established 24-hour guard posts here. Throughout the year, whether the sun is shining, the wind and frost, the rain and snow, whether it is day or night, there is always a guard patrolling in front of the tomb. Since 1948, all the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier have come from the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. As tomb keepers, the guards will shout loudly to stop outsiders trying to break into the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and protect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
■ Guards in front of the tomb.
The Unknown Soldier lay a black carpet in front of the tomb, and the guard guard shouldered the rifle, set off from one end of the carpet, marched 21 steps, stood facing the tombstone, stood silently for 21 seconds, then turned around and placed the rifle on the outside shoulder, marched 21 steps again, and so on, until an hour later the next shift of guards came to change the guard.
When I arrived at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with my friends, it was the changing of the guard every hour on the hour, and we were fortunate enough to witness the whole process of the changing of the guard. During the change of guard, the duty officer and the guard will first walk to the middle of the cemetery and loudly remind the visitors to remain silent and stand. Then, the duty officer walked to the right side of the cemetery, looked at the soldier standing guard, and began to examine the gun. The soldier on guard will use a complex set of flower gun movements to skillfully hand over his rifle to the duty officer for inspection. The star officer inspects every part from the gun to the bayonet with the naked eye and wipes it with his white-gloved fingers to make sure there is not a trace of stain. After the gun inspection was completed, the duty officer led two guards to stand in the middle of the cemetery, salute the tomb of the unknown soldier, and complete the change of guard. The whole process is solemn and impressive.