Our Story

The memorial was envisioned in the winter of 2010. The American Legion Post No. 88 approached the City of White about use of a parcel of land along Main Street to construct a memorial. KGK Designs of Woodstock, Illinois, submitted three drawings for the proposed memorial. The chosen design can accommodate 1001 engraved bricks and can be expanded to include an additional 572 bricks. At the time of construction, approximately 800 area veterans had been identified for potential inclusion in the memorial. 

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Brick sales started during the community's Pioneer Days festivities in the summer of 2010.

The first 125 bricks engraved with veterans' names were installed during the 2011 Memorial Day weekend. As of 2025, more than 300 bricks have been installed.

The memorial consists of seven squares containing 143 engravable bricks arranged around black granite squares. The seven squares recognize the five branches of the armed forces at the time of construction: Army, Navy, Marines Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The remaining two squares recognize the National Guard and POWs/MIAs. (The Space Force had not yet been established.) 

As bricks honoring veterans are purchased, typically by family members, the bricks are placed in the Memorial, but not necessarily in the service member's corresponding branch. (The majority of area veterans identified served with the Army, Navy or Air Force. Several served with the Marines Corps or National Guard and at least two served in the Coast Guard and one in the Merchant Marines.)