Almost a decade in the making, the centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial was finally delivered to Washington, DC. The 58-foot-long, 10-foot-tall bronze sculpture, called “A Soldier’s Journey,” will now call Pennsylvania Avenue’s Pershing Park home, after it was unveiled on September 13, 2024.
“A Soldier’s Journey” commemorates the sacrifice made by the troops who fought for the United States in the Great War . The 38 life-like figures that make up the monument tell the full story of a soldier’s service in the conflict, from their deployment, all the way to their return home.
The massive memorial was sculpted by a team that spanned both sides of the Atlantic. A team based out of New Jersey worked on the concept, using live models and thousands of photographs to give each sculpture a realistic appearance. The Pangolin Editions foundry in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, created the bronze castings used to put it all together.
The project was completed in late June 2024.
“I came into this project not really aware of the sacredness of [World War I] and how big it was,” sculptor Sabin Howard told Task & Purpose in a 2024 news article. “I’m a different human being than when I started it. This project really brings a human, visceral quality to WW I, rather than just a didactic history book look at it.”…