Tomb of The Unknown Soldier Guard Identification Badge - Notable Recipients

Notable Recipients

The first recipient of this badge was William Daniel, a former prisoner of war who served as a tomb sentinel and sergeant of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from February 1957 to June 1960. He retired with the rank of Master Sergeant in 1965 after 22 years of Army service. Daniel died in 2009 and is interred in Section 35 at Arlington National Cemetery, located just south of the Tomb.

Women were not eligible to receive the badge until a female in a military police unit was assigned to The Old Guard in 1993, thus allowing women to volunteer for guard duty at the Tomb. The first female soldier to earn the badge was Sgt. Heather Lynn Johnsen. In 1997, Sgt. Danyell Elaine Wilson became the first African American woman to earn the badge.

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