Six weeks ago I opened a text message from a long, long time friend. We met 25 years ago, on my first night living here in Washington, DC. She was a friend of my roommate and was just hanging inside my apartment when I moved in, curious as to see who was new to the neighborhood. We became good buds immediately. She's since moved on to build a life elsewhere, but through the power of social media we do keep up, commenting on each other's photos, checking in here and there; the usual. Surprisingly, that text message was about a new ephemeral monument located near the Lincoln Memorial.
The National Military Monument is a new and temporary memorial (monument?), located just west of the Lincoln Memorial. It is sponsored by the financial services company USAA (United Services Automobile Association). USAA is a private company that provides services including insurance, banking, and investments, mostly to active & veteran military members.
The monument is located in the same area as other war commemorations; World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the DC World War I Memorial. However, the National Military Monument is meant to be a commemoration honoring United States service members from all wars dating back to the Revolutionary War. It’s associated with America 250, the organization created by Congress to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The plurality of commemorations in DC are related to the military. War memorials or commemorations to individuals based on military duty are located all over the city, and concentrated in this area of the National Mall. But this one is quite different.
The National Military Monument is meant to honor all 41,000,000 U.S. Service members, going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. So, yes this would include people like George Washington and even (some) of the names of the 12 Soldiers of the Revolution statues in Freedom Plaza. The monument organizers acknowledge that there is no complete, comprehensive public record of all U.S. service members and have relied on a variety of public records and data to inform the monument.
The monument consists of two digital walls, built in the form of an American flag. The walls are are 18 feet tall and 108 feet long. The form is built with a static undulation, like a waving flag. The horizontal stripes in the flag are interlaced with LED displays that scroll through the 41,000,000 names in the database. Names scroll by at a rate of 6,000 every 45 seconds.
On either end of the two displays is a single LED Screen that shows individual names. The main idea behind the monument is that anyone is able to arrange for a particular name from the database to be displayed alone on the small LED screen for about 60 seconds. You can pre-arrange a name to be shown by visiting the monument website, searching for a name in the database, and generating a code that will activate the small screen at the monument. Once physically at the monument, you can give the staff the code and the veteran or service member’s name will be on display for you to view, and take photos of.
That was the request from my longtime friend. Her partner is a veteran of the United States Army and despite best laid plans, they were not able to travel to DC to see the monument. I was able to visit the monument on their behalf and provide the code, displaying the name. I snapped a few photos and emailed them over. In line, I met another woman who was doing the same thing. She had 5 names from friends and family across the country who she planned to get photos fro. And this wasn’t her first time down at the memorial. The digital screen element of this installation does allow an interactivity that can reach people far outside of DC, which makes it unique.
The monument was scheduled to close August 23, but popular demand led to an extension, as it is now set to close on Veterans Day weekend, November 12, 2026. The monument is open for name display from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm daily. It does occasionally close for inclement weather. I visited the monument to stand in line at about 9:30 am and it took about an hour to get to the head of the queue.
