Editing Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (section)

=== France and the United Kingdom ===
During the First World War, the British and French armies who were allies during the war jointly decided to bury soldiers themselves. In the UK, under the Imperial War Graves Commission (now [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]), the Reverend [[David Railton]] had seen a grave marked by a rough cross while serving in the [[British Army]] as a [[Military chaplain|chaplain]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], which bore the pencil-written legend "An Unknown British Soldier".<ref name="Memorial">Henry Allingham, Dennis Goodwin (2011). ''Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War''. p. 132. Random House, 1976</ref>

He suggested (together with the French in their own country) the creation at a national level of a symbolic funeral and burial of an "Unknown Warrior", proposing that the grave should in the UK include a national monument in the form of what is usually, but not in this particular case, a headstone. The idea received the support of the [[Dean of Westminster]], Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]], and later from King [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]], responding to a wave of public support.<ref name="Memorial" /> At the same time, a similar concern grew in France. In November 1916, a local officer of [[Le Souvenir français]] proposed the idea of burying "an unknown soldier" in the [[Panthéon]]. A formal bill was presented in Parliament in November 1918. The decision was voted into law in September 1919.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Jean-Yves Le Naour, ''Le soldat inconnu : la guerre, la mort, la mémoire'', Gallimard, 2008, p. 20</ref>

The United Kingdom and France conducted services connected with their 'monumental' graves (as presumably newly conceived, and in any case approved, by their respective armies) on [[Armistice Day]] 1920 (the burial itself taking place later in January of the following year in France). In the UK, the [[Tomb of the Unknown Warrior]] was created at [[Westminster Abbey]], while in France ''[[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France)|La tombe du soldat inconnu]]'' was placed in the [[Arc de Triomphe]].