"The Oath" -- Grand Prairie Veteran's Memorial, Grand Prairie TX USA - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

The city of Grand Prairie acquired part of the land formerly occupied by Navy and Army flight training uses in the 1960s, and got the rest in the 1970s.

One of the newest amenities on this former Army/Navy base is an impressive and very large Veterans Memorial completed with the help of the Rotary club and various other community partners.

This memorial consists of five granite-clad pillars arranged around a circular plaza, each topped with a seal of one of the branches of the United States military. Beneath each seal, residents in Grand Prairie who served in that branch and who died on active duty have had their names, military ranks, and dates of death engraved.

The round central plaza is made of stone panels that create a large five-pointed star in the center. Sidewalks radiate outwards from the plaza to form a circular walkway past sculptures, honoring different aspects of military service. The sidewalks of the Plaza radiate outwards to the circular walkway creating triangular tree wells. It's not obvious from the ground, but from the air these sidewalks create a five-pointed star with the plaza in the middle.

Benches are placed near the sculptures on the outside of the round walkway, inviting people to sit at the statue that most resonates with them.

This waymarked statue, "The Oath" is composed of two figures, U.S. Army officer and his Service Dress Green formal military uniform is administering the oath of induction into the United States Army to a young man who had a couple of moments is going to become Army private.

The men are facing each other each of them has their right hand raised with their elbow bent at a 90° angle. They are standing at attention, looking at each other. The military officer appears to be caught in mid-word as he is administering the oath.

The base the statue, the seals of the five branches of the United States military are placed in a Pentagon between the two figures. The base of the Pentagon a plaque containing the oath that every servicemember takes, reads as follows:

"THE OATH

I (NAME), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

Between the walkway and where the sculptures are, there are over 2 dozen individual flagpoles, most of which have some dedicatory plaque affixed to the flagpole base. There is plenty of room on the grassy areas around the memorial to accommodate audiences for programs or celebrations held here.

In all, Blasterz find this to be a very well designed and meaningful memorial.

Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: unknown Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Unknown Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 2005 Materials used: bronze, stone, and concrete Location: Grand Prairie Veteran's Memorial

Visit Instructions:
Please upload at least one photo you have personally taken of the sculpture and tell us a little about your impressions of the piece. Additional photos are always appreciated.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   05/04/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it