On July 1, 1982, Frederick Hart was selected to design the Three Servicemen Statue. Hart was a well-known and respected sculptor whose team had placed third in the open design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Three Servicemen Statue is cast in bronze. Hart used 2,500 pounds of clay to make the statue. The statue itself is placed on a granite base, which makes it eight feet high.

The three figures that make up statue represent American racial and ethnic diversity. They are purposefully identifiable as Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic-American. Each model sat for two to three hours at a time for two months.

The common characteristic Hart sought in all of his models were youth and innocence. The balance between childhood and manhood was the essence of the sculpture.

The African-American figure was modeled after U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Terrance Green, Rodney Sherrill, and Scotty Dillingham. The Caucasian figure was modeled after U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. James Connell III. The Hispanic figure was modeled after Guillermo Jose Smith-Perez de Leon.

“They are young. The contrast between the innocence of their youth and the weapons of war underscores the poignancy of their sacrifice. There is about them the physical contact and sense of unity that bespeaks the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the nature of men at war..."

Hart was confronted with how to work with the simplicity of The Wall. His solution was to keep the figures of smaller scale – as to not interfere with The Wall’s much larger scale. He also wanted the statue to withdraw from The Wall so the men would not infringe upon it.

Hart wanted to ensure accuracy for the details on the uniforms and weaponry. He relied heavily on historians. He borrowed military gear from Vietnam veterans. The uniforms are representative of all branches of the military and each figure wears a variety of gear.

The Three Servicemen statue and a flagpole were dedicated on Veterans Day 1984, when the entire Vietnam Veterans Memorial site was turned over to the U.S. government by VVMF as a gift to the American people. https://vvmf.wordpress.com/2019/11/01/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-three-servicemen-statue/