Quoted: Unknown Fate for Arlington's Tomb

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"THEY WANT IT PERFECT. I don't discount that thought process at all. But the only way to put a piece of stone there and make sure it stays perfect is to put it in a controlled environment. That's why you put things in a museum."

— Mary Oehrlein, a preservation architect, on discussions at Arlington National Cemetery about the growing crack at the monument above the Tomb of the Unknowns and whether it should be repaired or replaced entirely. As The Post's Michael E. Ruane reports, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka "added an amendment to the Senate version of this year's defense authorization bill that would halt any decision on replacing the tomb, pending a report to Congress."

Photo by James A. Parcell/The Washington Post