by Memorial Day this year is different. While the country is starting to reopen from government-ordered quarantines and stay-at-home orders, there won’t be the parades, Boy Scouts haven’t been allowed to put out flags at veterans graves, and access to Arlington National Cemetery is restricted to family members with the requisite passes.
Some things will remain as they always have. The Tomb Guards from the Third Infantry Regiment will still guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The difference this year is that they will do it without spectators.
Perhaps this is how it should be. The solemnity of their job as sentinels for the fallen is not to impress the tourists but to honor those who died for this country who are known only to God.