A soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery called out a group that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, Veterans Day, after laughter broke the quiet at the memorial. Video of the moment spread widely Wednesday afternoon, and the Pentagon said the soldier was right to speak up.

"While commemorating this solemn day, a soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

What happened at the Tomb

Official portrait of Pete Hegseth in a dark pinstriped suit and striped tie in front of the U.S. and Defense Department flags
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his official portrait, January 2025.Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Department of Defense / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Hegseth came to the cemetery with his wife and several of his aides for Veterans Day, when Arlington holds its national observance. President Trump attended too. After the group posed for photos at the Tomb, someone in it laughed, and the sentinel on duty called out loudly that all visitors must maintain silence and respect at all times.

The reports on the video do not say who laughed or whether Hegseth himself made any noise. The visit came a day after the House voted 211 to 204 to send Rep. Thomas Massie's eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee instead of voting on them directly.

Wednesday was also 105 years to the day since the first Unknown, an American soldier from World War I, was buried there after a state funeral in the cemetery's Memorial Amphitheater.

What the rules require

A Tomb sentinel in a dark overcoat carries a rifle on his shoulder past the snow-covered Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
A sentinel from The Old Guard walks past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the first snow of 2015.Spc. Cody Torkelson, U.S. Army / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

Arlington's conduct rules are federal regulation. 32 CFR 553.33 calls the Army's national military cemeteries "a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces" and says all visitors, "including persons attending or taking part in memorial services and ceremonies, shall observe proper standards of decorum and decency." Arlington's visitor etiquette page asks people to speak quietly so they do not disturb others.

Soldiers from nearby Fort Myer were first posted at the Tomb in March 1926, and guards have stood watch around the clock since 1937, according to the cemetery's history of the memorial. Since 1948 they have come from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, the Army's official ceremonial unit. Each guard marches 21 steps along the black mat behind the Tomb, faces east and then north for 21 seconds each, and shifts the rifle to the shoulder nearest the visitors, a sign that the guard stands between the Tomb and any threat.