Achieving approval to establish a national World War I memorial in the District of Columbia took longer than the war itself.

After six years of advocacy, the effort culminated in a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Roughly 1,400 pages into the 1,600-page document is a series of sections commemorating the 100th anniversary of “The Great War.”

One section allows for “an appropriate structure or other commemorative elements” to honor World War I veterans in Pershing Park in D.C. And, in one line reflecting a heated tug-of-war between D.C. and Congress, the provision says a WWI memorial should not infringe upon the existing D.C. War Memorial on the National Mall.