The Fate of the Unknowns - At Aging Arlington Memorial, Debating Repair vs. Replacement

The Washington Post ^ | October 14, 2007 | Michael E. Ruane

[RDTF]

The two old sailors stepped side by side toward the Tomb of the Unknowns, carrying a memorial wreath to their shipmates between them. The crowd stood hushed in the autumn sun while the pair, in ball caps and blazers, approached the white marble monument, left their wreath, stepped back and saluted.

A bugler had just played taps, and as the breeze rustled a majestic elm nearby, the moment was almost perfect: Few seemed focused on the jagged crack that zigzagged through the 48-ton stone like a scar, or the dings and chips in its surface.

But away from the scene in Arlington National Cemetery last week, debate raged over the fate of the nation's legendary icon to its unknown war dead. The cemetery has long wanted the tomb's weathered aboveground monument replaced. Preservationists want it repaired and retained. And now Congress is involved.

Two senators, James Webb (D-Va.) and Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), added an amendment to the Senate version of this year's defense authorization bill that would halt any decision on replacing the tomb, pending a report to Congress. And in a letter last month, they urged the same to the Army, which operates the cemetery.

At the tomb Thursday, memories brought tears to the eyes of Harold R. Hayes, 81, of Largo, Fla., who, with Eugene F. Phillips, 77, of Vernon, Conn., laid the wreath in honor of their ship, the destroyer USS Gherardi.

"Repair it," Hayes said of the tomb monument. "Too many people walk through here, see this. . . . Don't replace it. Repair it."

Its historic value, Phillips said, is irreplaceable.

The debate goes back years and pits two potent sensibilities: interest in historic preservation and the desire for perfection at the most famous memorial in the nation's most famous cemetery.

-snip-

[RDTF]

[txradioguy]

Repairing it only kicks the can down the road so to speak.

Go back to the quarry where the original stone was taken from...make an exact replacement...then the Old Guard and MDW can have a huge ceremony to commemorate the new “old” tomb.

[Dust in the Wind]

The replacement block is already setting there waiting a decision.

[shove_it]

Here we go again tx. Is there space in the Ft. Myer museum for the original monument? If not, the building could be expanded to accommodate it, no? That way it would be out of the weather and preserved as is the Liberty Bell and an exact replica replaces it at the Tomb. Anyone wishing to see the original can go to the museum.

[Former War Criminal]

Should we fix the Liberty Bell while we are at it?

[Rumplemeyer]

Repair it, not because of the cost to replace it, the memorial is like the Nation, old, scared, strong and dignified.

The last thing we need is a “Politically Correct” memorial, just think of the goat roping that design will be.

Everything does not need to be new and improved, what next, a new Liberty Bell (that one is cracked and so “1776”)?

[jbenedic2]

You hit the nail right on the head.

[Mojave]

If it’s replaced, what happens to the original?

[cpdiii]

The Vatican repaired Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. They did not remove and replace them. They restored them to their original glory.

[shove_it]

To all who are seriously interested in this issue, I suggest you click on the 25 page pdf document below entitled:

“ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY TOMB OF THE UNKNOWNS MONUMENT REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT PROJECT JUNE 1, 2006 DRAFT”

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/photo_gallery/ANC.pdf

Pages 8-11 are particularly relevant to this thread.

[Redleg Duke]

What the Libs and RATS want to do is replace it with a flat monument and then, later one, bury that one and disband the Old Guard.

The Libs and RATS only want to bury the uncomfortable fact that good men and women have given their lives to preserve the way of life that they detest and want obliterated.