The concept for the Memorial Walkway centers around the idea that the fallen Soldiers and Airmen of the Washington National Guard, those who have sacrificed everything, remain with us.

Through a combination of artwork and plaques, their legacy lives on via a direct and continuous connection with the units and organization in which they served. They remain a part of us, incorporated within our ranks, influencing our actions and our training in myriad ways and indecipherable fashion.

In execution, this concept would commission a life-size statue of a Soldier and/or Airman from each conflict, ideally based on contemporary photographs.

The statues would be at ground level to emphasize their connection with the current formation. This would enable the viewer to be “with” them, to interact with them, to look them in the eyes.

These statues would statues be accompanied by the corresponding list of the fallen from that conflict either engraved on stone or capture in a metal plaque affixed to a stone pedestal. These should be no higher than waist height—the idea being that from outside the Memorial Walkway, we should be able to see only our fallen in statue form above the ground-level vegetation.