Army sentinel rebukes Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth's group for laughing at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Army sentinel rebukes Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth's group for laughing at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Immediately after the laughter, the sentinel moved toward the group and, from a distance, shouted toward them: "All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times."

A US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier appeared to rebuke Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's delegation on Wednesday after laughter could be heard as they climbed the steps of the solemn site, according to a video of the incident.Hegseth, his wife, and senior aides could be seen taking pictures and speaking to each other on the steps of the memorial at Arlington National Cemetery following a Veterans Day event.Immediately after the laughter, the sentinel moved toward the group and, from a distance, shouted toward them: "All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times."Sitting at the heart of Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a sacred site and the grave of three unknown American service members, including one from World War One. It is widely known as a place for mourning and for reflection on military service, and sentinels guard the site 24 hours a day.Asked about the incident, which was first reported by CNN, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement: "The Secretary and the entire Department have always honored, and will always honor, the sacrifices our military men and women have made to keep America safe.""While commemorating this solemn day, a soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum," Parnell said.Hegseth mired with impeachment…

In brief

A US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier appeared to rebuke Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's delegation on Wednesday after laughter could be heard as they climbed the steps of the solemn site, according to a video of the incident.Hegseth, his wife, and senior aides could be seen taking pictures and speaking to each other on the steps of the memorial at Arlington National Cemetery following a Veterans Day event.Immediately after the laughter, the sentinel moved toward the group and, from a distance, shouted toward them: "All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times."Sitting at the heart of Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unkno…

This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to The Jerusalem Post. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.

Continue reading at The Jerusalem Post ↗

Cookie settings

Choose which cookies we may use. You can change this at any time from Cookie settings in the footer. Details of each cookie are in the Cookie Policy.

Strictly necessary

Needed for sign-in, security, payments and remembering these choices. Always on.

Preferences

Remember settings such as dark mode.

Analytics & performance

Help us count visits, understand which pages, devices and countries our readers use, and measure how well the site performs – anonymous and aggregated.

Advertising & marketing

Lets advertising partners show and personalise adverts, measure impressions, clicks and visits, prevent ad fraud and pay us – this is how the free site is funded.

🔔 News notifications

Get headlines from NewsHub on this device — even when the site is closed.

You can switch this off at any time. Works on Android, Windows, Mac and Linux browsers; on iPhone/iPad add the site to your Home Screen first.