Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans Memorial

The newest grief in Vernal's row of memorials honors those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq — the long wars that followed September 11, 2001, and ran on for two decades. It's a different kind of remembrance than the WWI doughboy a few steps away: closer, rawer, naming people whose families are still in town and whose absence is still recent. A community's memorials accumulate like rings in a tree, each war adding another, and this is among the youngest rings — proof that the obligation to remember never quite closes.

What the plaque says

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AFGHANISTAN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 2003.... "ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL" DANIEL GURR MICHAEL J. ALLRED

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vernal — steps away
  The self-proclaimed Dinosaur Capital of Utah
• Utah Field House of Natural History — steps away
  A dinosaur museum with life-size replicas in an outdoor garden
• Steinaker State Park — 4.2 mi
  A warm-water reservoir popular for swimming in the desert heat
• McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs — 6.5 mi
  Massive Fremont-era rock art panels on private ranch land open to visitors

More markers nearby

• American Mother Veterans War Memorial — steps away
• Men of Courage Monument (WWII) — steps away
• Operation Desert Storm Memorial — steps away
• Vietnam War Memorial — steps away