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Episode summary: The tradition of the Tomb of the Unknowns goes back only about a century, but it has become one of the most solemn and reverential monuments. When President Reagan added the remains of an unknown serviceman who died in combat in Vietnam to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in 1984, it was the only set of remains that couldn’t be identified from the war. Now, thankfully, there will never likely be a soldier who dies in battle whose body can’t be identified. And as a result of DNA technology, even the unknowns currently interred in the tomb can be positively identified. The Known Unknown

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A really touching episode, not least because we're coming to the end of a harrowing few weeks watching Ken Burns' Vietnam War. The idea that in future wars, at least for soldiers from some countries, no corpse will remain unidentified is somehow rather wonderful.

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