In a community park in Anthem, Arizona, north of Phoenix, five white marble pillars stand inside a circle of red brick. Each pillar has an oval opening cut through it.
On most days, the sun simply shines through them. But once a year, something special happens.
At 11:11 a.m. on November 11, Veterans Day, the sun lines up with all five openings at once. Its rays pass through the pillars and form a spotlight of light around a glass mosaic of the Great Seal of the United States, set into the ground at their foot.
The memorial was designed by Anthem artist Renee Palmer-Jones. Her father, grandfather and uncle were all veterans. “That’s in my blood,” she said.
She wanted a design that would set Veterans Day apart from every other day of the year. Every day has its own sun angles, so she built her idea around the exact position of the sun in Anthem at 11:11 a.m. on November 11. Her first sketch was drawn on a napkin over dinner with friends.
Turning the sketch into stone took careful engineering. Jim Martin, an Anthem resident and the project’s chief engineer, worked out the precise angles so the light would land just right.
The pillars range from 6 to 17 feet tall, one for each of the five branches of the military when the memorial was built: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, in the Defense Department’s order of precedence.
Every detail means something. The red brick pavers, the white marble and the blue Arizona sky are the colors of the flag. The bricks of the Circle of Honor carry the names of U.S. servicemen and women, and five benches around the circle honor the families who wait at home.
Ground was broken on Veterans Day 2010, and the memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2011.
Each Veterans Day, people gather in the park before 11 a.m. to watch the light slowly travel across the bricks until it settles over the seal. The video above shows that moment.
“I hope one hundred years from now our descendants will still enjoy the Memorial and appreciate its symbolism,” Palmer-Jones said.
