JSOF Joint Special Operations FoundationFoundation · 501(c)(3)
Memorial

The memorial and the paver plaza

Recognizing those who have given their lives in defense of the Nation is the first of the organization's three lines of effort. The memorial is the physical form of it.

What it is

A memorial to members of the JSOC community who died in service, with a plaza of inscribed pavers around it. The first phase is dedicated. It was built with the support of the command’s leadership and of donors who paid for it without being asked twice.

It is deliberately not finished. Later phases are planned to take in people the first phase could not, and each phase is funded before it is begun rather than announced and then hoped for.

  • Enabling forces, whose losses belong on it and are easily left off.
  • International partners who died alongside the command.
  • Military working dogs.
  • Members of the command who died from causes other than combat while assigned to it.

That last category matters more than its position in a list suggests. A death that was not in combat is still a death on assignment, and families in that position are used to being left out of the recognition.

Dedicating a paver

A paver in the plaza can be dedicated in two ways: to commemorate your own service with the command, or to memorialize someone who was lost. Both carry an inscription, and the inscription is the part that takes care.

  1. Choose what the paver is for. Your own service, or a dedication to someone else. If it is a dedication to someone who was lost, say so at the start, because those are handled differently.
  2. Draft the inscription. There is a character limit set by the paver itself. The Memorial Chair will tell you what will fit and will show you the layout before anything is cut.
  3. A person reviews it. Every inscription is read and approved by the Memorial Chair, and an inscription naming a fallen service member needs a second approver as well. Nothing about the fallen is approved by one pair of eyes, and nothing is approved by the person who wrote it.
  4. It is cut and laid with the next batch. Pavers are laid in batches rather than one at a time. The Memorial Chair will tell you which batch yours is in.

A dedication for a fallen service member is confirmed with the family first. If you are not the family, that step is not a formality and it is not something the Foundation will skip because the intention is a good one.

At a glance

Owning office
Memorial Chair
Replies within
three business days
Entity
Joint Special Operations Foundation, 501(c)(3)
Gift
Deductible. A paver may be funded as a restricted gift.
Paver cost
To be confirmed. Ask the Memorial Chair.
Inscription approval
Two approvers where a fallen service member is named.
Published roll of names
None.

How to start

Write to the Memorial Chair. If that mailbox is not yet routed, write to secretary@thejsoa.org and ask for the Memorial Chair.