Published Aug 3, 2026, 8:01 AM EDT
Search more than 41 million veterans from every U.S. conflict using USAA's new national monument and see if your family member is included.
From home, you can type a name into a website, and a few seconds later you can watch it rise across an 18-foot digital flag on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Visitors use onsite interactive kiosks or scan a QR code at the physical installation rather than typing a name. Whether that be a grandfather, a mother, a friend, or yourself, USAA probably has it covered. For the first time, there is a single place that gathers nearly every American who has ever put on the uniform, and it lets you find the one who belongs to you. USAA's National Military Monument opened July 28 on the Lincoln Memorial Plaza in Washington, D.C., as a temporary installation marking the country's 250th birthday. Sponsored by the financial services company, it honors more than 41 million Americans who have served in every conflict from the Revolutionary War to the present day.
What Is This Monument?
Two double-sided displays make up the monument, each 18 feet tall and 108 feet long, designed to look like American flags rippling in the wind. Instead of stars and stripes, the surfaces carry names. They move constantly. Every 45 seconds, the screens show 1,500 names on each side, roughly 6,000 scrolling at once, and then turn over to the next set. George Washington was the first name displayed when the monument opened. The Unknown Soldier will be the last. Somewhere in the millions between them, you might notice that the name John Smith is listed 4,487 times. Standing between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, it occupies one of the most heavily visited stretches of the National Mall during the anniversary summer. Most memorials there mark a single war; this one is trying to honor all of them at once.
