WWI sculpture captures Enduring Legacy of Service

More than a century after the fighting stopped in November 1918, the legacy of the more than 4.7 million U.S. service members who served in World War I has been brought to life through a towering display illuminated for the first time in late September at the nation’s monument commemorating the Great War.

A Soldier’s Journey, a complex story of triumph and sacrifice that defines America’s involvement in the war through a series of scenes featuring a recurring figure: a soldier who answered the call to serve in battles that raged an ocean away.

In the first scene, the soldier’s daughter hands him a helmet as he kneels in the embrace of his wife.

Next, the soldier moves toward a figure gesturing him toward battle as his wife grasps his arm in a bid to restrain him from answering the call to arms.

The remaining scenes follow the soldier through violent clashes alongside his comrades and the shock of battle portrayed through a bewildered stare before culminating in a proud march underneath the nation’s flag before he is once again reunited with his daughter.

The sprawling 25-ton bronze composition combines 38 total figures to tell the story of the war, capturing the broad range of American men and women from all walks of life who answered the call.

“This mammoth, epic, 60-foot bronze is about humans,” sculptor Sabin Howard said on Friday as A Soldier’s Journey was illuminated for the first time in a sunset ceremony.

“It is a memorial about us, ‘We the people,’” he said. “It is a project that represents the everyman, the ones who make this country possible.”

During the ceremony, each section of the statue was illuminated separately as Howard narrated each scene.

Howard said the legacy of those who served more than 100 years ago lives on to this day.

A 58-foot-long bronze sculpture titled A Soldier’s Journey is unveiled during an illumination ceremony at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, Sept. 13, 2024.

“This monument is a statement about what we can be as a country, as a nation,” he said, adding that he, as the sculptor, is “in service of something bigger than myself.”

“I learned this from the combat veterans that posed for me,” he said. “I used Army Rangers, Marines and Navy SEALs. All of them have experienced the horrors of war. Their faces are in this bronze forever. They are in direct lineage to those young men and women that left our shores 106 years ago.”

The sculpture serves as the centerpiece for the 1.76-acre National World War I Memorial situated along Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the White House.

In 2013, Congress authorized the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission to establish a national memorial honoring those who served in World War I. 

The memorial first opened in April 2021, and Friday’s illumination ceremony marked the completion of the decade-spanning endeavor to honor those who served and the 116,516 U.S. service members who lost their lives in the first war to engulf the entire world.

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