Tomb of the 'Unknown Soldier'

[Libhater]

http://stoneycreeker.com/tomb_unknown_solder/tomb.htm

[Peter1469]

I guessed right.

I saw the changing of the guard a long time ago when I was still enlisted.

[Mister D]

Interesting recent story.

France’s national crime laboratory has positively identified the remains of an U.S. Army soldier missing from World War II after the U.S. Defense Department’s own accounting agency refused to exhume the body and conduct a DNA test.

snip

According to military records, Gordon has been missing since Aug. 13, 1944, when he was killed in an M8 armored car that was struck by a German anti-tank shell near Carrouges, France. His remains were first interred in an American cemetery as “unknown,” despite the fact that his bloody wallet was sent home to his family and the man killed next to him was identified.

The remains were later exhumed and reburied in a German cemetery.

snip

On Aug. 13, 1944, Gordon, Pvt. James Bowman, Tech 5 Anthony Abato, and Pvt. Charles Kurtz were ordered to chase down a German motorcyclist that had passed them in their M8 armored car. While in pursuit, the vehicle was struck in the gas tank by a German 88 mm shell. Gordon and Bowman never made it out of the inferno. Kurtz and Abato were able to escape with serious burns, but Abato died two days later.

Records show that two sets of remains from the wreckage were placed in unknown status, and buried Aug. 15, 1944, in the Gorron American Military Cemetery by the 603rd Graves Registration unit.
“We presume identification was difficult because the remains were presumably blown apart and probably charred beyond recognition,” said filmmaker Jed Henry, who pursued evidence that eventually led Gordon’s identification.
But in the spring of 1945, Bowman was identified by fingerprints taken before the burial. Both set of remains were exhumed and processed.
Because German clothing or equipment was found with the one set of remains, it was determined to be that of a German solder. Apparently, nobody gave a second thought to the fact that Bowman remains also had been found with a German raincoat.
Gordon’s mother, Ella, was sent a Purple Heart, but few answers. She believed the government had lost her son’s body.


http://www.stripes.com/news/french-lab-identifies-us-soldier-s-remains-after-jpac-refuses-to-investigate-1.269672

[Peter1469]

I think that modern science can make the Tombs of the Unknown moot world wide. But many nations don't want to give up the tradition of it.

[GrassrootsConservative]

http://youngcons.com/powerful-guard-at-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier-puts-laughing-tourists-in-their-place/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mzTsCN7mNs

Thanks to our old Conservative values like respect and patriotic pride being thrown by the wayside, people like this great man right here are having to silence joksters like these chuckling hyenas.

I hope they learned their lessons.

[Peter1469]

There is a bunker somewhere convenient were there is a quick reaction force in full combat gear.