Lorimer Rich, who designed original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, also designed new ones (dark squares in sketch).
Two fallen, heroes from World War II and the
Korean War will take their honored places
beside the Unknown Soldier in simple dedication
rites this Memorial Day.
by K. C. Jerome
When America pauses in reverence on Friday
Memorial Day to dedicate tombs for two more
of our unknown soldier dead, the wheel will have
come full circle for a veteran of World War I named
Lorimer Rich.
Just a generation ago, Rich's design for the original
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier won out over 70 plans
submitted by other architects. Now fate has given him
the melancholy task of adding to that tomb the final
resting places for unknown victims of two more con
flicts: World War II and Korea.
The two new graves lie in the shadow of Rich's marble
reminder of "the war to end all wars." Set under the
pavement, each is covered with a slab of Vermont
marble surrounded by pink granite from New Hamp
shire. The only inscriptions: "1941-5" and "1950-3."
"These graves are plain alongside that of the World
War I Unknown Soldier," Rich declares. "Very simple,
no inspiring inscriptions, just the dates of the wars in
which the men were killed. We wanted visitors to come,
to see the simplicity of it, form their own feelings, and
compose their own messages on the meaning of it all."
Born in Camden, N Y., the son of a furniture de
signer, Rich was graduated from Syracuse University
just as the first world war erupted. The Unknown
Soldier of that war came back from France in 1921, on
the eve of the Washington Naval Conference which, it
was hoped, would presage an enduring peace.
In the funeral cortege rode ex-President Wilson.
At the cemetery, 1,000 Gold Star Mothers heard Presi
dent Harding say:
"As we return this poor clay to its fellow soil, gar
landed by love and covered with decorations, I can
sense the prayers of our people that this day shall mark
the beginning of a new and lasting era of peace. . . ."
It wasn't until 1928 that the magnificent monument
for the grave was ordered on plans submitted by Rich
in the nation-wide competition. Winning the assignment
helped establish the young architect and, in the years
since, he has gone on to design schools, post offices, office
buildings, and churches.
Four more years passed before Rich's 56-ton block of
Colorado marble finally was secured in place over the
crypt of the Unknown Soldier. As today, the crowds
gathered at Arlington National Cemetery were concerned
about business conditions at home and sword-rattling
in Europe and the Far East. And today, when we pre
pare to entomb in glory two more of our heroic, name
less dead, the words spoken by War Secretary Patrick
Hurley still ring true:
"Puritan or Cavalier, rich man or poor man, native
or foreign born, Jew or gentile, Catholic or Protestant,
Republican or Democrat the externals that differentiate
men in life all have been swept away from the United
States, and we behold merely the man, the soul, the
symbol of the spirit of America."
Family Weekly, May 25, J9S8 9
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