For the first time, bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell provides a narrative history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the battlefield exploits of the hand-selected Body Bearers who laid him to rest in THE UNKNOWNS: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and WWI's Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home. With the same “seamless blend of tactical acumen and human drama” (The Wall Street Journal) that he brought to his last book, Washington's Immortals, O'Donnell brings the brutal combat of the Great War vividly to life. Each Bearer, selected by General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), represented a different branch of the military, and most of them fought in all the major battles in which the AEF participated.
“Pershing's Body Bearers were some of the most decorated, intrepid enlisted men who fought in World War I,” O'Donnell writes. “They uniquely span America's service branches and specialties, uncovering an untold story within a forgotten story: Army, Navy, Marines, Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Heavy Artillery, and Combat Engineers.” Their experiences highlight the necessity faced by Pershing and the AEF to abandon obsolete field tactics in the face of novel and devastating new technologies.
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