Via PreservationNation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has started a campaign to save the original Tomb of the Unknowns, or Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as it’s commonly called, at Arlington National Cemetery.

Who would want to mess with the tomb? According to the National Trust, it’s the folks who run Arlington National Cemetery themselves, as well as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) — perhaps one of the senate’s most famous military veterans and fathers of soldiers currently serving in Iraq. The tomb has some cracks and needs repairs, but instead of fixing it, the Cemetery would like to replace it with a pristine, exact replica. UPDATE: Due to an error, we incorrectly cited Sen. Jim Webb’s position on this issue. Sen. Webb is in fact opposes undecided about replacing the tomb.

The National Trust, naturally, would like to see the original tomb preserved in the same way that other monuments in D.C. are repaired, by re-grouting the cracks, and they say that experts they’ve consulted with agree the replacement stone is likely to crack in the same way as the current one over time. Would replacing the 48-ton marble block, originally built in 1932, be necessary again in another 75 years?