Today we observe Veterans’ Day in honor of all veterans, living and dead, who served in one of the United States Armed Forces.
The holiday’s traditional wreath-laying by the President is scheduled to take place today at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, shown below. Today’s ceremony, of course, will honor all U.S, military veterans, known and unknown. There reportedly are about 17 million U.S. forces veterans now living.
The Tomb is best known for honoring American service members who died when our country was at war, but whose identities could not be determined. If you look closely at the end of the sarcophagus, you’ll see that the Tomb is inscribed, “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD.”
The Tomb is a sacred place to me and most other veterans and has been guarded by the U.S. Army 24 hours a day and 365 days a year – in snowy blizzard and blazing sun – since July 2, 1937.
(Leighton Archive image taken in Arlington National Cemetery.)