Washington, DC: Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial Will Be Dedicated on the National Mall on Saturday

A new memorial opens on the National Mall

Washington, DC will dedicate the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial on Saturday, October 24, at 11 a.m., at the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street NW. The ceremony is open to the public. The memorial stands near the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, USA TODAY reported on October 23.

The memorial honors the nearly 700,000 United States service members who served during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, when a United States-led coalition pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. Some 382 American service members lost their lives in the conflict, the Washingtonian reported.

What visitors will see

The design draws on desert landscapes. Curved, golden-beige granite walls are intended to evoke wind-sculpted dunes, and a winding pathway leads visitors through the site, USA TODAY reported. The Storm Wall stretches about 250 feet and was sculpted by Emily Bedard. It depicts scenes from the campaign, from the buildup of forces through the conflict and the liberation of Kuwait.

At the center is a 28-foot-diameter bronze Unity Shield fountain engraved with the names of the 41 coalition nations, with water cascading across it during warmer months. The memorial also carries sculptures of an American bald eagle and a Kuwaiti falcon, designed by veteran and sculptor Robert Eccleston, which represent the partnership between the United States and Kuwait, the Washingtonian reported.

At the dedication, attendees can expect an original song performed by Kuwaiti singer Maryam Ali with musicians from Nashville, and Kuwait Defense Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah will also address the crowd, the Washingtonian reported.

More than a decade in the making

Scott Stump, president and chief executive of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association, began the effort after serving in the operations as a Marine Corps Reserve veteran. Congress authorized the memorial in 2014, when President Barack Obama signed the legislation. President Donald Trump signed a bill in 2017 authorizing the memorial to be built near the National Mall. A ceremonial groundbreaking took place on July 14, 2022, and the National Park Service issued the construction permit on March 6, 2025.

Reports put the project cost at about $40 million to $43 million, funded through private donations, including major support from Kuwait, which was the largest donor. Skip Graffam, a design partner at OLIN, told USA TODAY he hopes Gulf War veterans feel, after all this time, that they have a spot on the Mall that is theirs.