The Maine police chief who served as an unknown security guard

SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Mark Holmquist proudly wears the uniform as police chief in Scarborough. After a 24-year career as a state trooper in Maine, he has led the 40-member department for about two and a half years.

Although he served as a police officer for more than a quarter century, Holmquist’s most enduring memories include his time in a U.S. Army dress uniform as a guard, also known as a guard, at Arlington National Cemetery and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Holmquist said he first saw the guardsmen conduct the changing of the guard when he was 18 years old and an Army soldier.

“And as I watched the soldier walk across the mat at the graveside, I saw how professional that soldier looked, and at that moment I decided I wanted to be a gravekeeper,” Holmquist recalls.

He was in the right place to take on this task on a voluntary basis. Just two or three days after beginning his basic training, Holmquist was selected to join the Army’s Old Guard Division, which handles ceremonial duties in Washington, D.C. and funerals in Arlington.

Holmquist said he was chosen because of his size, appearance and what he called his “military bearing.”

The same qualities were required for the job of gravekeeper, so he took the exam and was accepted, knowing that he still had months of additional physical and mental training required for these elite positions.

“The standard at the grave, in line six of the creed, says my standard will be perfection,” he said. “And we all know you can’t achieve perfection, it’s unreasonable to demand, but for the unknown, we try each and every day to get as close to perfection as it looks.”

The first few months of training were tough, he said. The recruits had to learn the special way of marching that the guards used at the grave: they stepped on their toe first and gently rolled their foot so that the normal up and down movements of the body during normal walking did not occur.

“The key is not to bounce while marching,” he explained. “When people ask me what you think about when you march, has it become boring? That wasn’t the case because I consciously evaluated every single step. With every step I watch my sights to see if the sights bounce. I listen to the bayonet on the rifle. When I hear the bayonet making noise, I know I’m jumping or my arm position is wrong.”

That precision, he said, must be achieved by studying and memorizing much of Arlington and the tomb’s history, as well as the creed and other guidelines for guards.

“There were more than 10 poems that we had to memorize and be able to recite, we had to know 100 locations of people buried in Arlington who were considered prominent and also where they were buried,” he said. “So on days off I would have to walk around, walk around and try to find places. This didn’t happen on work days, it was free time.”

The new guards also had to learn to prepare their uniforms to high standards. This work, Holmquist said, is not done by a dry cleaner: “It was done by us. So we basically spend a lot of time in a pressing shop down in the basement with an industrial press, making sure that the pleats on the back of the uniform that we put on ourselves are tailored to our bodies. Make sure they were right on target.”

The same standard applied to the constant polishing of all brass on the uniforms, as well as the cleaning and maintenance of the rifle.

These uniforms have no rank insignia or stripes. Holmquist said that since the rank of the people in the tomb was not known, the guards themselves did not show rank.

The total style and polish, the precision of the march, the handling of the rifle – all of it, he said, was meant to honor those who lay in the grave.

“A lot of detail, attention to detail is all there, but for good reason,” he said. “It’s for the unknown soldiers who gave too much.”

For the same reason, he said, the precision of the changing of the guard ceremony focuses on the number 21, symbolic of the 21 gun salute.

“(It is) the highest honor that can be given to a service member who has given his life,” he said. “Everything is based on 21. So 21 steps on the mat when marching in one direction.” Stop, face the grave and wait 21 seconds. Once this is done face down on the mat, perform a weapon shoulder switch. Once this is done, wait 21 seconds and then take another 21 steps down the mat.”

The Changing of the Guard takes place every half hour in the summer and every hour in the winter – basically any time Arlington is open to the public. When the cemetery is closed, guards continue to guard the grave but do not perform the elaborate remodeling ceremony. Instead, he says, guards don typical army uniforms and otherwise patrol the grave area to ensure the grave is never vandalized.

It’s a strict schedule. The 27 guards are divided into three units called “detachments,” and each detachment operates for a 24-hour period. But the time off duty, says Holmquist, is often taken up with training, studying and preparation.

Holmquist served as a gravekeeper for 14 months until he was discharged from the Army. He received the coveted badge for this position based on his performance and tests. With the badge he could also take on changing of the guard, inspections and other tasks.

The badge remains with a gravekeeper for life and can also be revoked if the person does something later in life that is believed to dishonor the Unknown Soldiers.

Holmquist still proudly wears his badge and often gives lectures and presentations about the work and traditions of gravekeepers.

He still tells the story of one day on duty, guarding the grave in the rain, when a man came up in a wheelchair.

“A double amputee,” he said. “And he had a flag tied to the back of the wheelchair and was wearing a Vietnam veteran cap. And he came up and stood next to the unknown man from Vietnam.

“And the most impressive thing was that he wasn’t wearing a raincoat, he wasn’t wearing a coat, but he was there to honor his friend. And so I walked up and down the front a few times and heard that he was emotional and sobbing. And the last time I walked past, he shook my hand, saluted, and thanked you for taking care of my friend. And in that moment I knew exactly why I was a gravekeeper and how important it was not only for me, but for all visitors.