But Saturday, the legionnaires and their comrades stood before the Civil War dead in the shadow of a great oak tree. Gold Star father Dan McLaughlin, whose son was killed in Iraq, attends a ceremony honoring those at the Civil War Unknowns Monument at Arlington National Cemetery. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)They gathered at the cemetery’s Civil War Unknowns Monument, the original Tomb of the Unknowns, and the site of the first official Memorial Day commemoration in 1868. Almost half of the soldiers killed in the Civil War were never identified, according to the National Park Service. About 200 men and women representing American Legion posts from across the country, and several modern wars, came to salute the fallen of a distant war.

Source: Washington Post May 28, 2016 23:03 UTC