The remains of four soldiers were exhumed from four principal battle fields – The Aisne, Somme, Arras and Ypres (some unconfirmed reports suggested that there were 6 bodies) – and brought to a makeshift army chapel at St Pol near Arras, France on the night of 7 November 1920.
The bearer parties were immediately returned to their units and a guard placed on the door. At midnight Brigadier General L.J. Wyatt (above), the Officer in charge of troops in France and Flanders and Lieutenant Colonel E.A.S. Gell of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries went into the chapel alone.
The remains were on stretchers, each covered by a Union Flag: the two of officers did not know from which battle field any individual body had come. General Wyatt with closed eyes rested his hand on one of the bodies.
The two of officers placed the body in a plain coffin and sealed it. The other three bodies were reburied. General Wyatt said they were re-buried at the St. Pol cemetery but Lt. (later Major General Sir) Cecil Smith says they were buried beside the Albert-Baupaume road to be discovered there by parties searching for bodies in the area.
Although unknown, it seems highly likely that the bodies were carefully selected and the Unknown Warrior was chosen from the remains of a soldier serving in Britain’s pre-war regular army killed in 1914, making any identification of the body impossible.