ARLINGTON, Va. — At the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery, a new memorial has taken shape on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Living Wall of Honor is made up of more than 1,000 plants and was completed by visitors to Arlington’s Women In Military Service For America Memorial Thursday morning.
Visitors put into place the final 160 plants — one for each female service member who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
“This is sort of paying tribute to the dead with the living, because we are placing living flowers there in tribute to them and in their memory,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, president of the Women’s Memorial Foundation.
Each plant brought up to the wall contained a label with the name and picture of a female service member who was killed.
“Participants today, in having a plant with the name and the face of one of the fallen warriors, we think would really make a connection,” said Kristina Kaufmann, executive director of the Code of Support Foundation.
The last plant placed on the wall was one honoring Army Specialist Toccara Green, of Rosedale, Maryland, who was killed in Iraq in 2005 when her convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device.
“The country has not forgotten their fallen heroes,” said Garry Green, her father.
“Knowing that my daughter is still being remembered after 9 years… that makes me realize that her life was not lost in vain.”
Kaufmann hopes the wall, which will be on display through October, helps people understand what service members and their families have been going through since the 2001 attacks.
“For us, it’s been 13 years of a hard road,” Kaufmann said.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on WTOP Facebook page.
