‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ Opens to Public—But Please Don’t Get Frisky

A tomb commemorating all the soldiers who died during World War I will be open to the public for the first time in more than 70 years, according to The New York Times. The Arlington National Cemetery memorial, known as the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers,” was first dedicated in 1921 after an American soldier chose one coffin to represent the thousands killed during the war. Since 1948, a 24-hour military guard has kept watch after multiple incidents of the public desecrating it—sometimes romantically—though officials plan to allow people to pay their respects starting Tuesday to commemorate its 100th anniversary.

The first group to visit the memorial will be members of the Crow Nation, who will also say a prayer delivered by a Native chief about 100 years ago. The purpose, according to a cemetery historian, is to acknowledge “the significant role of American Indians in the military during World War I, and the possibility that the Unknown Soldier could have been an American Indian.”