The Veterans Memorial of Mount Vernon, Iowa

“The memorial is a contrast of a stark, pigmented concrete with the warmth of landscape and vegetation surrounded by generations of saints,” states James Baty, memorial designer. “The modernism of the two concrete walls depict two hands that reach out; one a hand of veteran service displayed in the wall of honor; and another the hand of present, experienced by those sitting along the wall of contemplation. Both approach each other for an eternal handshake around the flag of freedom that was won and continues to be maintained by these selfless acts and preserved in the memories formed.”