If you visited the Lincoln Memorial this summer or fall, you likely came across a different kind of memorial that normally isn’t there. This year, to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, the insurance and banking company USAA, which serves military members, veterans, and their families, built two giant American flags displaying the names of over 41 million military service members.
Dubbed the National Military Monument, the installation was supposed to last less than a month, but the company says families just kept coming—and so it’s sticking around for Veterans Day after the company sought an extension to keep up with the overwhelming number of visitors.
And it turns out that some of the people lining up at the Lincoln Memorial Plaza aren’t there for ol’ Honest Abe. They’ve come for the pair of double-sided digital displays, each about 18 feet tall and over 50 feet wide. Up close, names of service members scroll across the screens by era. From afar, the displays resemble American flags waving in the wind. George Washington’s name is listed first, the Unknown Soldier, last.
USAA, which funded the monument after becoming an official America 250 partner earlier this year, declined to disclose the total cost. The work went beyond building the digital displays: planning, researching, and compiling names, and construction took several months, Bove said. Visitors can search for a relative or even themselves at interactive kiosks, and USAA staff are available on-site to help bring up individual names on the monument’s screens.
“It’s very uplifting to be able to stand here and to know that their sacrifice was not in vain,” said a visitor in a USAA video announcing the monument.
The goal is to honor everyone who has served since the Revolutionary War: Veterans who came home, those killed in war, and military personnel who are still serving today. That adds up to roughly 41 million searchable names so far, though not everyone is there yet, because the nation’s military records have gaps of their own.
On weekends, the wait has sometimes topped three hours, USAA’s lead communications director Christian Bove told Fortune. Visitors in the USAA announcement video described traveling from as far as Puerto Rico. Families can still visit through Veterans Day on Nov. 11, when the monument’s current permit ends. A USAA spokesperson said the company plans to announce what comes next for the monument later this week.
Remembering those who served
Some families traveled from afar and were pleasantly surprised to find the name of someone they love on the screen, long waits be damned. Bove himself recalled one such moment during his first visit in October after the monument was built. Sitting on a bench in front of the Lincoln Memorial, he overheard a teenage boy calling his grandfather to say he had found his name and was about to send him a photograph.
“It was so cool to hear the excitement in his voice and know he was able to share that moment with his grandfather,” Bove said.
It’s not just the grandkids having fun, but the grandparents too. Delbert “Ray” Houlette, a 95-year-old Marine who served in the Korean War, was shown a photograph of his name on the monument after a friend of a FOX5 reporter helped arrange it.
“I’ve been a Marine since 17 and I’m still a Marine at 95,” Houlette told the Las Vegas station.
Building the monument took several months of planning, research, and construction, Bove said. Assembling the names meant working around gaps in the historical record. No complete, publicly available list of everyone who has served exists, so USAA drew from military and public records—including World War II Army enlistment records and prisoner-of-war lists—as well as veterans service organizations and USAA members who opted in.
Some records were lost decades ago. A 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center destroyed roughly 16 million to 18 million military personnel files. Northern Virginia Magazine reported that those losses complicated the monument’s research.
Privacy protections account for other omissions. USAA says it requires verified consent to include currently serving members and many former service members whose records are not yet public. Families can use the monument’s website to search and submit missing names and additional records for inclusion.
Because the monument stands on public parkland, USAA secured a special-use art installation permit from the National Park Service, Bove said. It opened July 28 and was originally due to close Aug. 23. USAA sought an extension because of the visitor response, and the park service approved it. The installation is free to visit from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily through Nov. 12, and the online database will remain searchable after it closes.
“We knew we wanted to celebrate and honor all 41 million of our veterans and service members, and what better place to do that than on our National Mall,” Bove said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: fortune.com
