Submitted Photo The new Monument to the Unknown, shown here, will be placed at Riverview Cemetery, Williston, and rededicated on Memorial Day. The simple white obelisk replaces one originally placed in the cemetery in 1919.

WILLISTON – A rededication of what has been claimed to be the nation’s first official monument to the unknown will be held during the Memorial Day program Monday, May 31, at 10:50 a.m. at Veterans Plaza in Williston’s Riverview Cemetery.

The Military Affairs Committee-Williston Basin announces the expanded and historic Memorial Day program. The program will again be presented by the American Legion Post 37. All of the institutional facets of past programs will be included with the addition of the special ceremony.

The monument was a simple white, wooden obelisk, first erected in Riverview Cemetery on May 30, 1919, two years before the nation’s most recognizable monument to the unknown, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, was dedicated.

It is unknown what happened to the Williston cemetery’s original monument. A historically accurate reproduction of the monument was constructed with guidance from Williston’s Cemetery Advisory Board and the efforts of the Military Affairs Committee. Construction was completed by Williston Woodworks and the dedication of Isaac Haugen as his Eagle Scout project.

As part of the American Legion’s Memorial Day program, the new Monument to the Unknown will have a wreath placed in front of it by a U.S. Army Sentinel in a special ceremony. Sentinels honor and protect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. All Sentinels are members of the 4th Battalion, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at Fort Myer, Virginia. Cpl. Troy Leister is the Sentinel traveling to Williston to provide this honor.

Sen. Kevin Cramer will be present to deliver the rededication address 102 years after the late Usher Burdick gave the first address in front of an open grave and the original monument.

Everyone is welcome to attend. A portion of Ninth Avenue West in front of Veterans Plaza will be blocked off and canopies set up, with seating, to accommodate those attending.