(Radio Iowa) – The president recently signed a bill into law that provides for a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D-C honoring those who have fought in the Global War on Terrorism. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst pushed for the memorial along with New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan. “This has been a years-long effort, and I am so proud that I can now say that the effort will soon become a reality,” Ernst says.

Ernst is a combat veteran of the war — and says anyone from the National Guard, reserves, or regular military who has been a part of the battle has been impacted. “This will be a place of remembrance on the National Mall for those families that maybe lost a loved one in the war — and also for those who served — who gave up time with their families to go off to a foreign land fight for our nation’s values and to protect our freedom,” Ernst says.

She says this will be a permanent reminder for those who answered the call in the wake of 9/11 to serve in our nation’s longest war. “This is for all of them, for everything that they have given. This is for their families — this is for the Gold Star wives, and the Gold Star children who will grow up without a mother or father. It’s for America, and it is rightly being located on our National Mall alongside many other war memorials,” according to Ernst.

She says there are several steps left before the memorial can be built. She says the National Park Service will work with the Global War on Terrorism Foundation to find a location for the memorial and then they will work out a design, and the foundation will work to raise funds.

Ernst says the memorial will not use any tax dollars. She is hopeful everything will fall together in a couple of years to see ground broken for the new memorial.