The relief sculpture here is titled A Soldier's Journey. It depicts a soldier leaving home, fighting in war, and returning to his family. The work is a memorial to U.S. Armed Forces members who served in World War I.
Following the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, the World War I Centennial Commission was authorized to build the memorial in Pershing Park. The design team, which included Joseph Weishaar, Sabin Howard, Phoebe Lickwar, and GWWO Architects, had to balance the new memorial with M. Paul Friedberg’s modernist design for the park. The design was selected in January 2016, and the sculpture was dedicated on September 14, 2024.
The memorial is located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Every day at 5 p.m, a bugler plays Taps at the memorial regardless of the weather. The memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2025.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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