story originally told by army sgt. 1st class Fredrick Geary, age 37; narrated by Lcpl Syner
Hurricane Isabel was reaching her strongest and most dangerous we had seen so far when the order came down that we could abandon the tomb and seek refuge

"We made the decision we were going to stand where we were,"
Around the clock each day for about two hours at a time, seven soldiers
take turns manning the tomb where the first unknown soldier was buried in 1921.
But on Thursday night, during the height of the storm, Sgt. of the Guard
Geary took it upon himself to march for 5-1/2 hours before the tomb against
heavy rain and 60 mph wind gusts.The wind was so strong that it felled at least 24 trees on cemetery
grounds, most more than 20 years old. In turn, three headstones were crushed. Crews
began working at 4 a.m. Friday to clean up the 612 acres scattered with
downed trees and limbs. The tombstones could be replaced within two weeks,
officials say. Looking at the tomb on Friday, Geary, who led the charge to stay, choked
up: "Did they volunteer? Did they get drafted? How did they die? They did their
job and this country paid them back by not remembering who they were. We
have a job to do here and at no time was a life in danger.
"It was my life. I was just doing what I believed to be right."
<http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/t/tombofunknowns.htm>.