WASHINGTON PREPARES TO HONOR ARRIVAL OF AMERICA'S UNKNOWN SOLDIER
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 7, 1921, the Evening Star reports that "Washingtonians by hundreds" are expected to participate Wednesday afternoon (November 9) in "a solemn and concentrated procession when the U.S.S. Olympia*...bearing the body of the unknown American soldier comes to dock here at the navy yard."
The Star describes the coming event as "a procession for which there will be no precedent in the capital's history."
Washingtonians are asked to stand with bowed heads at the waterfront as the Olympia passes. The great battleship will have "a squadron of ten hydroplanes" flying overhead as an aerial escort.
The unknown soldier, representing all those American doughboys who did not return from the world war, will also be honored by the wearing of the poppy of Flanders fields** "in keeping with the spirit of the day."
*U.S.S. Olympia (C-6) in service 1895-1922 & named after the city located in the state of Washington, is the oldest steel American warship still afloat. The restored battleship, once the flagship of Admiral George Dewey's Pacific fleet, is located at the Independence Seaport Museum.
**"In Flanders Fields," a poem by Canadian Lt.Col. John McCrae (1919), refers to red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers. This led to the use of "remembrance poppy" to honor war dead.
"In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row"
SOURCES
"In Flanders Fields," by Lt. Col. John McCrae, 1919.
"Preparing Plans To Greet Olympia," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 7, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
Victory Bond Poster
by Frank Lucien Nicolet (1918)
Canadian Wartime Information Board
