The $10 million project is a collaboration between the state of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas and the Mayor’s Fund for Las Vegas LIFE, an independent nonprofit that collects donations for city initiatives. The state contributed $3 million.

“The memorial stands as a permanent testament to bravery, selflessness, and the sacrifice of men and women who answer the call of duty,” said City Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske, who represents the district and helped lead the effort to bring the statues to the site. “I hope this memorial also serves as a reminder to those children and their families of the sacrifices made by our veterans to protect their freedoms and enable the opportunities that we all enjoy today, because behind every name, every uniform, and every statue is a story — a story of service and love of country. And those stories deserve to be remembered not just today but for generations.”

The centerpiece of the memorial is a set of 18 bronze statues, each 7.5 feet tall, crafted by sculptor Douwe Blumberg. The state of Nevada commissioned the statues in 2011 to honor American service members from the Revolutionary War through the present day. They previously stood outside the aging Grant Sawyer State Office Building near downtown Las Vegas.

Each statue represents a different war the U.S. has fought, beginning with the Revolutionary War and ending with the War on Terror. The figures include soldiers standing with their weapons, a wounded soldier being carried from the battlefield by comrades, and a family explaining the history of U.S. armed conflict to their children. Among the figures are a Civil War soldier, a World War II soldier and nurse, a Vietnam War soldier, a Gulf War pilot and a modern-day service member representing those currently in the armed forces.

Other statues represent the families of service members. “Reminding us that when one serves, the entire family serves too,” said Rommel Ferrer, deputy director of benefits for the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.

The memorial also features an open-air promenade with landscaping, an outdoor amphitheater, educational signage and walls of quotes from famous figures in history related to the armed forces.

The journey to the new site was not without obstacles. The Grant Sawyer building was shuttered in 2024 after years of complaints — leaking sewage, black mold and other problems. It was demolished in July to make room for a new housing development. After hearing the statues would be moved to the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Vincent Palmieri Jr., junior vice commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 711, started a petition to keep them in Las Vegas. Brendan Vargas, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant, learned about the petition, which had gathered more than 1,300 signatures, and brought it to Allen-Palenske, who began working to find the statues a permanent home in her district.

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office, Nevada State Public Works and the Nevada Department of Veterans Services helped Allen-Palenske search for a site. Ultimately, the Thunderbird Family Sports Complex was selected. The complex was named after the Thunderbird squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, making the setting fitting for a military memorial.

“The Nevada State Veterans Memorial has a beautiful new home at Thunderbird Sports Complex, where generations of Nevadans and visitors will have the opportunity to experience this powerful message,” said Col. Mary Devine, director of the Nevada Department of Veterans Services. “Through its remarkable bronze sculptures, it honors the courage and the sacrifice of those who served, but it also recognizes the human side of our military service. It tells stories of service members, of veterans and of the families who love them.”

Mayor Shelley Berkley commended the veterans in attendance and said she is “so very proud to be the mayor of a city that values and honors and appreciates its veterans.”

Berkley attends services each year at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, which she called “a place of mourning.”

“This is a living memorial where veterans can take their children and their grandchild and walk around this beautiful park and show them the statue that represents their time in service and be here to contemplate, to remember, to reminisce and to share their thoughts with their loved ones,” Berkley said. “This is an important thing for our city, and I am so delighted that so many people are here and that I’m able to share this extraordinary moment.”

Nevada’s two other state-recognized veterans memorials are both in the north: the Battle Born Memorial to the Fallen on the Carson City Capitol Complex grounds and the Mustang 22 Memorial at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Stead.

Nearly 219,000 veterans, more than 10,000 active-duty service members and more than 6,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves live in Nevada with their families, according to the governor’s office.