The Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial is set to open on October 24 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It will honor the 383 service members who died in the wars as well as all the service members who served.
“We hope it’s a memorial that’s designed for not only the veterans, but also something that, you know, 50 to 100 years in the future, [is] for people [who] may not know much about it, are interested in learning more and feel that this is a place that was important enough to remember,” lead landscape architect Skip Graffam told Military Times.
The memorial features stone carved to resemble service members from the operation and was specifically chosen to resemble barchan dunes from the Kuwaiti desert. When refracting light or dampened by rain, the stone shimmers with gold.
Army photo by Amanda Sullivan
