For the first time in decades, people can lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

[Music] welcome to cbs saturday morning i'm jeff glor with michelle miller and belated birthday girl dana jacobson happy birthday thank you be happy thank you and again a year-long celebration we are celebrating all year long everyone roll right into the next birthday why not i love it thank you coming up this hour mining a rich vein of humor you may not know his name but author humorist and comedy writer simon rich has found endless ways to make us laugh from his work on snl and the simpsons to his books and essays we will meet him and see physical proof that he's living out his childhood dreams plus it is one of the world's favorite foods certainly mine but what makes some pizza rise above the rest we'll get a lesson in how to make the perfect pie from chef and author dan richard and later the american buffalo was saved after hunting nearly drove the animal to extinction but that was just the beginning we'll take you to montana where native americans are continuing the effort to restore herds of these majestic creatures to their lands that's ahead but first up this hour a special report ahead of next week's observance of veterans day the tomb of the unknown soldier is one of the nation's most treasured and sacred sites this year marks its 100th anniversary and an extraordinary departure from tradition senior investigative correspondent catherine herridge reports from arlington virginia in the sacred grounds of arlington national cemetery a white tomb rises above the rest bearing this inscription here rests in honored glory an american soldier known but to god what makes the tomb of the unknown soldier so powerful for some families this is the only grave that they had to visit back in the 20s but even still today it's really an incredible place right on this crisp autumn day our guide is the cemetery's historian allison finkelstein this veterans day marks the memorial's 100th anniversary as a place of deep respect america has changed the ways that it remembers the war dead from thinking about that grave is connected to world war one to now thinking about it as representing all of our nations fallen throughout time next week an honor reserved for presidents will be available to all the first time in decades that the public will be able to walk out on the plaza gerald lowe who coordinates major events at the cemetery said there is no charge but online reservations are required for november 9th and 10th when history gets personal when we've seen the president in the past place the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier that's the same location where the public will be able to place flowers at the time so there's a real intimacy absolutely an intimacy not only for your everyday american the american public but anyone from around the world after world war one the remains of four unknown service members were exhumed from four american cemeteries in france the u.s army went to extreme lengths to ensure that the unknown buried here in the tomb was truly one that could never be identified a highly decorated soldier made the selection on october 24th 1921 sergeant edward f younger used a spray of white roses to indicate his choice and why is it so important that the unknown can never be identified they really wanted to make sure that anybody could connect with that soldier and that he could have been of any race any religion he could have been born in the u.s or he could have been a recent immigrant crowds swelled the streets of france as the casket made its way to the uss olympia for the transatlantic crossing to washington d.c where the remains lay in state at the u.s capitol they actually opened the rotunda up to the public and over 90 000 people came to pay their respects and like today in 1921 the nation was tested not only by armed conflict but reeling from the 1918 spanish flu the summer of 1919 there was a lot of unrest across the country this was a turning point in american history in many ways finkelstein said memorials evolve connecting and reconnecting generations through respect for service we hope it is a place of unity and that's certainly how it was intended when they created it in 1921 for cbs saturday morning katherine herridge arlington national cemetery so much to learn coming up in next on coming up next week on the cbs evening news a special series ahead of veterans day honoring our heroes highlights the service and sacrifice of america's military

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 7,442

Keywords: video, cbs, news, first time, decades, people, lay flowers, tomb, the unknown soldier, soldiers, public

Id: AZ65ijafwXM

Length: 5min 13sec (313 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 06 2021