WASHINGTON, DC – Darke County Veterans Gary Rhoades, Larry Pleiman, Dale Dickerson, and Jim Kammer had the honor of Wreath Laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on the recent Darke County Veterans Services annual trip to Washington DC.
Special to the 2024 trip, Arcanum’s Gary Rhoades served as a Tomb Guard when he was an infantry soldier in the US Army. Gary is the husband of Julia Rhoades.
Gary talked about his experiences serving in the prestigious role of Arlington National Cemetery Tomb Guard.
Rhoades received his basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey before completing his advanced infantry training at Fort Polk in Louisiana.
“My first duty station was Ft. Carson, Colorado, and they came out recruiting for the Old Guard located at Ft. Myers, Third Infantry, so I went for it,” Rhoades said about how he got the appointment. “The first platoon I was in, we did nothing but firing parties and flag folding for burials off post and then firing parties at Arlington and then the platoon guard. They came to our platoon and asked if anybody wanted to try out. Back then, you had to be at least six feet tall in your stocking feet, so I said what the heck, I’ll go for it.”
Serving at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (TUS) was a defining period in the lives of many Tomb Guards. Although Tomb Guards come from every state in the United States of America (US) and every walk of life, they are forever bonded through their shared experience of service at the Tomb. A strong bond was formed through an extremely demanding and humbling experience.
Tomb Guards are handpicked and rigorously trained, and they describe their service as a privilege and an honor and are undeniably proud of their service. They are part of an unbroken chain of Soldiers dating back to March 25, 1926. The ideals of the Tomb became the guidepost for their lives, as well as a motivating factor and measuring stick for future endeavors. The Sentinel’s Creed is the Tomb Guard standard. The 99 words of the creed capture the true meaning of their duty. You will often hear the words “Line-6” proudly uttered by Tomb Guards as they converse with each other or with their chain of command.
Rhoades fulfilled all the requirements, passed the training, and soon became a tomb guard. The new appointment can be stressful as well as rewarding.
“It was stressful; you can’t make any mistakes. Everything is perfection,” he noted. “We had to meet people from foreign countries. We are basically what they see of our military, so we are representing the whole military basically in how we present ourselves and also for respect for the three unknowns underneath.”
Serving as a Tomb Guard is a lifetime commitment, and you must have knowledge of specific grave sites and everything about Arlington.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guard Identification Badge is the third least-awarded qualification badge of the United States Army; as of December 26, 2023, they number 868, including 26 which have been revoked and nine “administrative errors”.
Rhoades wore his blue polo shirt with his Honor Guard Tomb insignia and was quickly noticed by the Tomb Guards on duty.
“They automatically saw me and stopped and shook my hand,” said Rhoades. “The Tomb Guard who was removing the chain for the Honor Guard looked at me and came over to me right away. He asked me for my badge number, and I told him.”
Rhoades was invited into the Tomb quarters, where the guards stay while on guard duty.
“I took our gentlemen down into the Tomb Quarters because they invited me in,” he said. “I was explaining to them some of the things we did when I was there. It’s changed through the years, but it is still kind of the same.”
Rhoades was issued four sets of winter Dress Blues and could keep his white gloves when his tour was done.
“What we wear up there aren’t summer Dress Blues,” Rhoades shared. “They are Winter Blues, the heavier ones because they hold creases better. The summer blues, you look at them, and they wrinkle, but the ones they are wearing keep their shape.”
Rhoades shared the height and waist sizes required at the time he was serving with the Old Guard.
“They like your waist to be 32, but you notice now that they don’t go too much about the waist. You can’t go over too much, but most are about a 32-inch waist.”
“When I was on, we had three reliefs. First relief was the tall guys, 6’2” to 6’4”; second relief was in between that and my relief, which we called the short relief, it was 6’ to 6’1”, so we tried to keep everybody the same. Now I noticed they don’t worry about the height difference on the relief because in pictures I’ve seen, there are tall and short ones.”
“All those walking on the mat don’t show rank,” he continued. “It might have been an E5 sergeant; it could have been an E6 Staff Sergeant. The reason for that is they don’t want to have any rank over the Three Unknowns, not knowing what their rank was, for respect for them. The only one that carried their rank is the relief commander.”
Rhoades shared some of his moments and experiences walking the mat with perfection as the standard.
“It is an interesting job; it’s an honor and everything else that goes with it,” Rhoades said. “It’s interesting when you go out on the mat, the things you see, how people react.”
“I had some kids. I could hear them say, “Is he a robot” because our belts and things were so tight to keep everything nice and snug. We were just taking shallow breaths so they couldn’t see our chests moving.”
“When you are out there and you are concentrating, most of the time, you don’t see anything; it doesn’t register because you’re concentrating on what you’re doing, so you don’t notice the people. When you’re on your walk and wearing sunglasses, you still don’t notice a lot because you’re trying to count 21 seconds. Everything 21. When I was there, I had people out there watching their watch to make sure I was doing 21 seconds, 21 steps, and 21 seconds back and forth.”
“You have to concentrate and watch for people that don’t abide by the rules. We’re supposed to keep the noise down and keep anybody from getting inside there. You come off and go to port arms and raise your voice … and tell them to remain silent and respect.”
“One time, they just had a wreath-laying ceremony, and it was windy. The wreath fell over, and with due respect, a guy crossed over the chains to come in and pick it back up. Right away, I had to go to Port Arms and tell him to remain in the stands. He set it up and hurried back out, but it fell again. I could hear people gasping, and I was thinking, don’t anyone else come in here; I don’t want to do that again, but it does disrupt the sequence you’re going through; you’re trying to concentrate.”
“Once in a blue moon, you get out there, and for some reason, your mind kind of goes off when you’re counting your seconds, and you think, oh jeez, I forgot where I was, something catches your eye, but you had sunglasses, and you would think, this is where I was and you would count and step on and keep going.”
Dropping a rifle is out of the question, something Rhoades never saw in his time with the Old Guard.
“Never,” he said. “When I was there, nobody ever dropped their rifle. When you get out there in the summertime, their gloves are wet. They wet their gloves to grip the rifle, but if you’re out there an hour, a half hour later, they’ve dried out already, and they are slick.”
“At night, you’re on two hours, off four hours, so usually you go out twice a night. You hope you get the first one and go out two hours while it’s still daylight, then you go down, and you have some cleaning to do for the next relief coming in. Then you try to get three hours of sleep, but they wake you up and tell you its time to go back out. You’re half asleep, and now you go out there, and the lights are out. If the moon is out, you might see some of the cemetery, but you haven’t come around yet, and it’s like you’re seeing things.”
Would Rhoades do it again and encourages youg people to consider serving as a Tomb Guard with the 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard).
“If you want to put your whole heart into something and dedicate yourself, go for it,” Rhoades stated. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Gary Rhoades’ badge number is 0199 and can be found on the SOCIETY OF THE HONOR GUARD, Tomb Guards. tombguard.org/guards/form