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.

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
• Spirit of the American Doughboy (WWI) — steps away