Walking along Pennsylvania Avenue or up from the Mall on 15th Street, visitors find
the memorial ensconced in a landscape of undulating mounds, evocative of the European landscapes transformed by war but now overgrown by grasses and trees. It is a metaphor for healing, for resilience and for recovery from one of the most tragic and costly wars the United States has ever fought.
![WWI Memorial: Paths of Americans](http://images.ctfassets.net/0niopo07lbvk/20PWOQS0FdvHdkkvwmZz5m/4b9a59fe1f49940bd1de184839f27e46/Path_BASE.jpg?q=80)
A spiral path is at its heart, paved with 585 concrete planks to represent each day of American involvement in World War I. The path is a procession to the places of the war, commencing with the Pershing sculpture and a w waterfall. Water flows into a rill that traces the path, passing panels chronologically commemorating the war’s major campaigns.
![WWI Memorial: Paths of Americans](http://images.ctfassets.net/0niopo07lbvk/7ex66we8jMNBmTWXEuFN0M/c51916ab339981a4f6a54781a1827381/012-_ADDITIONAL_3.jpg?q=80)
![WWI Memorial: Paths of Americans](http://images.ctfassets.net/0niopo07lbvk/66CKeTF71zawqpw1zBKeHc/3cc7829f4e64d3fc13ff9e977cd07307/010-_ADDITIONAL_1.jpg?q=80)
![WWI Memorial: Paths of Americans](http://images.ctfassets.net/0niopo07lbvk/3MIKMhg5NQBCUgJRmFtnJB/6694351adc121200e54574fc90c0f361/011-_ADDITIONAL_2.jpg?q=80)
![WWI Memorial: Paths of Americans](http://images.ctfassets.net/0niopo07lbvk/4qFssC96xmwHdJkZmFvlpP/a4bc550eaa7abbcd02fd23c73437103d/FINAL_DIAGRAM_horizontal.jpg?q=80)