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Through Irene, Old Guard Stood Watch At Tomb Of The Unknowns

On guard during Irene at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
3rd U.S. INF Regiment The Old Guard
On guard during Irene at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

As they did during Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the Washington-area blizzards in 2009-10 and other extreme weather events, soldiers of The Old Guard continued to march at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns as Hurricane Irene blew through the area on Saturday and into Sunday.

There is a shelter the soldiers could use, but they have consistently declined to do so.

The Old Guard has photos on its Facebook page, where many commenters are praising the soldiers' dedication.

(Click here for another recent story about the Old Guard and the work its solders are doing "to photograph more than 219,000 grave markers and the front of more than 43,000 sets of cremated remains ... [as] part of the Army's effort to account for every grave and to update and fully digitize the cemetery's maps.)

While Washington largely got spared the worst of the storm, the strong winds and driving rain did do some damage — as this photo of the flag that was flying in front of the Capitol Building on Sunday shows:

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Irene's winds tore the flag that was flying in front of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Irene's winds tore the flag that was flying in front of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.