American Mother Veterans War Memorial

Not every war memorial honors the soldiers. This one, in Vernal's memorial cluster, remembers the mothers — the women who sent sons and daughters to war and, too often, received the news no parent should. It draws on the Gold Star tradition, in which a family that lost a child in service displayed a gold star, and the older custom of naming an American Mother each year. It's a quieter and more searching kind of monument than the soldier statues nearby: a memorial not to the fighting, but to what the fighting cost the people who raised the fighters.

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

• Men of Courage Monument (WWII) — steps away
• Operation Desert Storm Memorial — steps away
• Spirit of the American Doughboy (WWI) — steps away
• Vietnam War Memorial — steps away