It's the only war without a memorial in the nation's capital, but that will soon change. As borough reporter Erin Clarke tells us, an artist who works out of the Bronx is part of a team hired by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission to build the project.
It's the story of a man saying goodbye to his family for a noble cause and an uncertain future.
"Here's the soldier who leaves his daughter," sculptor Sabin Howard said as he pointed out illustrations of a soldier going to war. "She hands him the helmet and his wife stands behind him. The next scene is the soldier leaving his wife joining his fellow comrades in arms and they're off to war."
The drawing will be transformed into a memorial to the millions of Americans who fought in World War I and the 116,000 who died.
"You're going to be transformed visceraly," Howard said.
The Bronx-based sculptor is teaming up with an Arkansas architect to create the 65-foot-wide by 11-foot-high statue and the surrounding memorial park.
Howard located his studio in the South Bronx 12 years ago. He's spent two years working on the memorial here, a process that's included painstaking research and nine months snapping 12,000 photos of actors posing for the scenes in the memorial.
Authenticity was key for Howard. The clothing and equipment that the actors used are actually from World War I. He says it helped draw out that raw emotion that will eventually be depicted in his memorial statue.
"So when you hold these things in your hand, you are crucially aware of how dangerous this war actually was," Howard said.
Howard has made a career creating classical nude sculptures and believes careful detail in transforming human bodies into art helped his team win the commission.
But that didn't come easy. His initial composition was rejected, and he later re-entered the contest with another architect.
The goal is to complete the memorial for the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I next year.