Photo: Ray Clayton

Monument Committee Chair Robert B. Urquhart, Lt. Col. (Ret.), salutes the flags at the beginning of last Sunday's dedication ceremony.

The Rhode Island National Guard Retirees Association held a dedication ceremony Sunday for a new living memorial at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter. The monument is the first in the state to honor the service the Rhode Island Army and Air National Guard.

Site work on the project has been ongoing since March of 2008 and will continue until a 7-foot minuteman bronze statue is raised on a fourth and final granite wall.

The memorial highlights the history of the RI National Guard - which can be traced to the formation of the militia in 1638 - and honors the daily sacrifices of current Guardmembers.

An inscription on the monument reads, “For three centuries a civilian in peace, a soldier in war. I am the custodian of the nation’s security and honor, now and forever, there I stand. I am the guard.”