EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD) will host the 55th annual Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Memorial Ceremony on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. CDT in honor and remembrance of the 344 EOD technicians who have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives in the line of duty.
The ceremony will also be livestreamed and available for viewing online by visiting https://eodwarriorfoundation.org/events/.
The original memorial structure was dedicated on June 12, 1970, in Indian Head, Maryland. It consisted of four white cenotaphs -- one for each branch of service -- and was faced with bronze tablets containing the names of EOD technicians who died in the line of duty.
After NAVSCOLEOD was consolidated at Eglin Air Force Base, the original memorial was disassembled and redesigned. The new structure consists of a single white wall faced with four bronze tablets identifying the names of the fallen. A brick from one of the original cenotaphs was incorporated into the current memorial by entombing it within the concrete wall.
The wall currently honors 344 fallen EOD warriors from 1942 to the present.