By Jean Cole

An Iraq war veteran has been selected to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Oct. 3 in Arlington, Virginia.

Chris Hadden, a former member of the 37th Engineer Battalion, a U.S. Army airborne engineer battalion based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, served a year in Iraq. He was chosen to lay a wreath at the tomb by the Helmets to Hardhats group of the Nashville Iron Workers Union. Helmets to Hardhats is a nationwide program designed to get soldiers trained in construction trades.

“I found out Saturday,” Hadden said of the laying of the wreath. “I was just thrilled when they told me I was the one who was going to do it. It is quite and honor and it pretty much floored me when they told me about it.”

Hadden, a 27-year-old ironworker, is still serving in the National Guard with the 255th Engineer Detachment based in Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee.

Hadden will lay a wreath during the 11:30 a.m. ceremony at the tomb in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife Tia, Tia’s mother, Tonia Hardiman Cofer of Elkmont, and, possibly, Tia’s grandmother, Jean Hardiman of Athens, will meet Hadden’s family members, including his parents Lori and Freddie Hadden of New York, to attend the ceremony together.

Tomb of Unknowns

Nations throughout the world have tombs of the unknowns to remember those who died in wars but whose remains could not be identified. These tombs and their contents stand for all of that countries’ unknown war dead.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. On the back of the tomb are the words: Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.

In 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater. West of the World War I unknown are the crypts of unknowns from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.