KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National World War I Museum and Memorial will be in the middle of all the excitement of the NFL Draft in Kansas City next week. For five nights, the memorial will be lit with an art display, called "Horizons," as a tribute to veterans.
KSHB 41 has an exclusive first look at a rendering of the art installation crowds will see.
"We are excited to be having an art installation in the evenings that honors our veterans and those who serve," Matthew Naylor, president and CEO of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, told Lindsay Shively of KSHB 41. "We'll just have to wait and see as the lights go as the sun sets — this incredible installation that people will enjoy, giving honor to those who served and really reflecting back to the service of our WWI veterans."
Featured in the display, the silhouettes of soldiers were created from real WWI-era photos from the museum.
The quote from General John J. Pershing on the right was selected as the Missouri native led the American Expeditionary Forces to victory during WWI.
And the prominent poppies in the installation are a symbol of remembrance after the famous poem "In Flanders Fields," depicting poppies blooming over devastated battlefields.
When visitors first step foot inside the museum, a field of poppies is displayed beneath the Paul Sunderland Bridge. Each of the 9,000 poppies represents 1,000 combat deaths during WWI, per the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
The installation can be seen from sundown to 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday next week. It will also be lit at certain times during the draft on Thursday and Friday: when the military is mentioned and when the draft ends and the concerts begin.
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