The Unknowns Patrick K Odonnell by Patrick K. O'donnell 9780802128331, 0802128335 instant download after payment.

The Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier is sacred ground at Arlington National Cemetery. Originally
constructed in 1921 to hold one of the thousands of unidentified
American soldiers lost in World War I, it now also contains unknowns
from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and receives millions
of visitors each year who pay silent tribute.
When the first
Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in Arlington, General John Pershing,
commander of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI, seleted eight of
America's most decorated, battle-hardened veterans to serve as Body
Bearers. For the first time O'Donnell portrays their heroics on the
battlefield one hundred years ago, thereby animating the Tomb by giving
voice to all who have served. The Body Bearers appropriately spanned
America's service branches and specialties. Their ranks include a cowboy
who relived the charge of the light brigade, an American Indian who
heroically breached mountains of German barbed wire, a salty New
Englander who dueled a U-boat for hours in a fierce gunfight, a tough
New Yorker who sacrificed his body to save his ship, and an indomitable
gunner who, though blinded by gas, nonetheless overcame five machine-gun
nests. Their stories slip easily into the larger narrative of America's
involvement in the conflict, transporting readers into the midst of
dramatic battles during 1917-1918 that ultimately decided the Great War.
Celebrated
military historian and bestselling author Patrick O'Donnell illuminates
the saga behind the creation of the Tomb itself and recreates the
moving ceremony during which it was consecrated and the eight Body
Bearers, and the sergeant who had chosen the one body to be interred,
solemnly united. Brilliantly researched, vividly told, The Unknowns
is a timeless tale of heeding the calls of duty and brotherhood, and
humanizes the most consequential event of the twentieth century, which
still casts a shadow a century later.