A congressional bill signed into law this week has put the brakes on plans to replace the cracked 48-ton marble monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
The National Defense Authorization Bill, signed by President Bush Monday night, includes an amendment by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Jim Webb, D-Virginia, that bars the replacement of the monument for at least 180 days.
By then, the Army and Veterans Affairs secretaries must present Congress with a study on whether the monument could be repaired instead of replaced.
“Our position is that this is the real monument where people have been coming for 75 plus years to mourn their dead, and in the United States we don’t simply discard our authentic historic landmarks — we repair them and we retain them,” said Rob Nieweg, a regional director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which pressed Congress for the legislation after discovering the cemetery’s plans in April.
Nieweg said the same technology used to repair the marble at the Lincoln Memorial — where cracks are re-grouted and cleaned gently — would make the two large cosmetic cracks in the tomb’s marble virtually invisible to visitors.
The Lincoln Memorial and the monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns were built with marble from the same Colorado quarry.
In 1989, experts evaluated the cracks in the 75-year-old tomb monument and found that they were not a threat to the structure.
While the cracks appear to have worsened, the monument has not been re-evaluated — one reason Congress ordered a study.
“I look forward to reviewing a full assessment of the memorial’s damage and recommendations for moving forward judiciously,” Webb said.
A spokeswoman for Arlington National Cemetery did not return a call and an e-mail Tuesday.
Honoring the fallen
The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery:
» Contains: Unknown American soldiers from World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
» First burial: The unknown soldier from World War I was interred Nov. 11, 1921.
» Tomb opening: April 9, 1932
» Guarded: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by the Old Guard, the 3rd U.S. Infantry.
» Marble: From the Yule Marble Quarry near Marble, Colo.
» Inscription: “Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God.”
