Seven decades ago, George Haupt of Crystal Lake served among the elite military guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, a post he called “the highest of honors.”
The 88-year-old retired Army corporal will be returning to the tomb he once guarded on Thursday, Veterans Day, for a 100-year-anniversary commemoration of the site, which is dedicated to American service members whose remains have not been identified.
Centennial events for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier began Tuesday with a ceremony memorializing the first burial there, the Nov. 11, 1921 funeral for an unidentified World War I soldier.
George Haupt, 88, of Crystal Lake, served as a sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from December 1954 to September 1955. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The tomb is also the final resting spot for an unidentified service member from World War II and another from the Korean War, but the sacred space is intended to honor all unknown casualties of war, whether they’re buried at other cemeteries or unmarked graves.
“At the Tomb, they are never forgotten,” says the Arlington National Cemetery website.
President Joe Biden on Thursday will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony and deliver an address for the National Veterans Day Observance. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Plaza, which is typically restricted to tomb guards, was opened to the public for the first time in almost a century, offering a rare chance for visitors to pay their respects and lay flowers at the site.
Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment stand watch, ensuring the hallowed ground is never unguarded.
Tomb guards, also called sentinels, change in an elaborate ceremony every half-hour or hour, depending on the season.
“As a tomb guard, you’re out there and you’re aiming for perfection,” Haupt said. “You cannot make a mistake. It’s a challenge.”
The sentinel ritual is precise and exacting: March 21 steps down a black mat behind the tomb, face east for exactly 21 seconds, turn and face north for 21 seconds, then take 21 steps down the mat and repeat the process. The tomb guard then “executes a sharp shoulder-arms movement,” placing a rifle on the shoulder closest to visitors, “signifying that he or she stands between the Tomb and any possible threat,” according to the Arlington National Cemetery website.
Haupt said the number 21 symbolizes the 21-gun salute, performed by cannons or artillery as a military honor.
The tomb guard is a prestigious post, requiring rigorous training and passing multiple exams, according to Arlington National Cemetery. There have been more than 680 sentinels since the late 1950s, according to the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a nonprofit organization.
The Sentinel’s Creed captures the essence of the post.
“My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted,” the creed begins. “In the responsibility bestowed on me never will I falter. And with dignity and perseverance my standard will remain perfection.”
Haupt served as a tomb guard from December 1954 to September 1955. Back then, he said, sentinels would march in darkness at night, whereas today the plaza is lit with lights. There is also more security now; in the 1950s, he said the public could get much closer to tomb guards.
Sometimes he would see visitors praying near the memorial site.
“We understood there were people who were saying goodbye to a brother or father who never came home,” he said. “It was very personal to them.”
On a few occasions, men and women would come up to him and say “thank you,” he recalled.
“Then there was a different feeling of Americans about the unknowns than there is today,” he said. “Back then, we had just gotten over the Second World War. Today, so many people don’t know what it’s all about. They accept this free society we have as a given, and they don’t understand how it came to be, with all these people who gave everything to make it become a reality.”
On Thursday, Chicago’s Pritzker Military Museum & Library will host a Veterans Day program which will also honor the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The 5:30 p.m. event will be livestreamed on YouTube and include remarks from seven Illinois veterans. Awards will also be given to U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.
“Veterans Day is a day of celebration,” Duckworth said in a written statement. “It’s a moment to recognize and honor the service of all of those who put on the uniform and sacrificed in order to safeguard our great nation. Despite the risks, despite the danger that they know they could face, tens of thousands of the bravest people that you could ever know still volunteer to serve every year.”
eleventis@chicagotribune.com
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