When the first Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in Arlington in 1921, General John Pershing selected eight of America's most decorated veterans to serve as Body Bearers. Who were these valiant but now nearly forgotten heroes? As Patrick O'Donnell recounts here, their ranks include a cowboy who re-lived the charge of the light brigade; an American Indian who breached mountains of German barbed wire; a New Englander who dueled a U-boat for hours; and a gunner who, though blinded by gas, overcame five machine-gun nests. In looking back on America's involvement in this vast conflict, O'Donnell also explores how the Tomb became sacred ground.