Aw...The Final Walk of the 41st Sergeant of the Guard

On June 2, 2025, Tomb Guard Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Jay stood on Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Plaza and held up a white rose. Then, he dropped to one knee and laid it at the base of the Tomb, which is the gravesite for an Unknown Soldier from World War I. Jay then laid a rose at each crypt that honors the other Unknowns: those who had served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Jay had just made his last “walk” as a Tomb Guard. Since 1948, soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 3d Infantry Regiment “The Old Guard” have guarded the Tomb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In a poignant tradition, departing Tomb Guards lay roses at the Tomb to honor the Unknowns during their final walk.    

Jay, the 41st Sergeant of the Guard, spent 29 months leading and teaching a new generation of Tomb Guards, greeting visitors, engaging with the public, and hosting foreign dignitaries and presidents during wreath-laying ceremonies. He will now head to Michigan State University to serve as an ROTC instructor.  

During Jay’s last walk, his eight-year-old son, Finn, stood next to Sgt. Kaylee Johnston, who handed Jay his roses on the plaza’s steps. Jay handed a small toy to a smiling Finn. When Jay finished laying the roses, he returned to Finn, took him by the hand and the two walked off the plaza together—Jay for the last time...