History, it can be a wonderful thing.
10th November 1920: Military Servicemen keep guard over a coffin overnight, as it lay in a train carriage.
The coffin had previously been moved from the chapel at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, France, to Boulogne. At Boulogne the French 8th Infantry Regiment stood vigil overnight. The coffin was then placed inside another casket made of oak from a tree that had grown at
Hampton Court Palace. A 16th century crusader's sword was attached to the casket.
A mile-long procession led by 1’000 French school children, and escorted by a division of French troops made its way to the harbour with the coffin. It was then taken on-board the
British destroyer HMS Verdun. The destroyer was then escorted to Dover, England, by six battleships.
A train from Dover took the coffin to Victoria Station, London.
This picture was taken at Victoria Station, where servicemen kept guard overnight.
The following day the coffin made its way to the 13th century
Westminster Abbey; the streets along the route were lined with people in mourning. As the coffin was being lowered into the grave in the Nave of the Abbey,
King George V stepped forward and dropped a handful of French earth onto the coffin from a silver shell.
1.2 million people filed past the grave to pay their respects before the grave was closed. No-one knew of the dead man’s name, but he’s known as the
Unknown Warrior.
The following year General Pershing, on behalf of the
United States of America, conferred the
Congressional Medal of Honor on the Unknown Warrior. That same year, the American
Unknown Soldier was awarded Britain’s highest award for gallantry, the
Victoria Cross.