How the Unknown Warrior Came home
The Unknown Warrior was first suggested by J. B. Wilson, then News Editor of theâ€DailyExpress,†in the issue of September 16, 1919. He wrote: “Shall an unnamed British hero be brought from a battlefield in France and buried beneath the Cenotaph in Whitehall?†The suggestion was adapted, but Westminster Abbey, not Whitehall, was chosen as the resting place.
Early in November, 1920, the bodies of six unknown men, killed in action, were brought to a hut at St. Pol, near Arras. The Unknown Warrior who was to receive an Empire’s homage was chosen by an officer who, with closed eyes, rested his hand on one of the six coffins. This was the coffin that came to England.
Marshal Foch salutes the unknown soldier
HMS Verdun on the crossing from Boulogne
The deck of the “Verdun” with sailors guarding the coffin
Dover harbour
Six officers carry the coffin from the army,navy, Marines and Air Force
George V place a wreath on the Coffin
Field Marshall Haig helps the King
The Unknown Soldier is carried into Westminister Abbey
Sentries from the four services stand guard as the coffin lies in state
The grave is filled in
Over a hundred sandbags with French earth is used to fill fill the grave
Acknowlegement-1919-1938 “The Tremendous Years”. 1938
