Lest We Forget The Unknown Warrior
The Unknown Warrior, the birth. On September 7th, 1920, in the strictest confidentiality, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed. These bodies came from temporary battlefield cemeteries. They were at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme.
Choosing The Unknown Warrior
None of the soldiers who did the digging new why. The bodies were taken by field ambulance to GHQ at St-Pol-Sur-ter noise. There the bodies were draped with the union flag. Sentries stood guard, and Brigadier-General Wyatt and a Colonel Gell selected one body at random.
Guard Of Honour
A French honour guard was selected and stood by the coffin overnight. In the morning of the 8th, a specially designed casket made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the unknown warrior placed inside. On top was placed a crusaders sword and a shield on which was inscribed ‘ A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for king and country’.
Transportation Of The Unknown Warrior
On the 9th of November, the unknown warrior began his journey by horse-drawn carriage. It passed through guards of honour and the sound of tolling bells and bugle calls to the quayside. Here it was saluted by Marechal Foche and loaded onto HMS Vernon bound for Dover. The coffin stood on the deck covered in wreaths and surrounded by the French honour guard.
Westminster Abbey
On arrival at Dover, the unknown warrior was greeted with a 19 gun salute, usually only reserved for field marshals. He then travelled by special train to Victoria Station London.
He stayed there overnight, and on the morning of the 11th of November, he continued his journey to Westminster Abbey. The coffin having arrived took its place in a tomb at the west end of the nave. His grave then had to be filled in using 100 sandbags of earth from the battlefields.
Mark Of Respect
When the Duke of York (later King George VI) married Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyons in the Abbey in 1923, she left her wedding bouquet on the grave. She did this as a mark of respect (she had lost a brother during the war). Now all royal brides married in the Abbey have sent back their bouquets to be laid on the grave.
Who Created The Idea
David Railton, a Padre thought of the idea of the unknown soldier whilst serving at the front. The union flag David used as an altar cloth was draped over the coffin.
The Intention Of The Unknown Warrior
It is the intention to give all relatives of the 517,773 combatants whose bodies could not be recognised. The belief, that the unknown warrior could very well be their lost husband, Father, brother or son.
