World War II Veterans Memorial Highway

The World War II Veterans Memorial Highway begins in the major metropolitan city of Oklahoma City, in central Oklahoma and traverses cities, pasture lands, prairies, woodlands, and rivers northward to the Kansas State Line. The interstate highway is a high speed, 4-lane divided thoroughfare, and is the major northbound roadway, and a principal traffic artery in the state. The Memorial Highway honors veterans of World War II, in which some 16.11 million U.S. military personnel served, from 1941-1945. U.S. military forces suffered 405,399 deaths, including 291,557 battle deaths. An additional 670,846 were wounded. Some 4,497 Oklahoma veterans were killed in action, died of wounds, or were killed in combat or while a Prisoner of War. Over 60 million people perished during this global war, which makes it arguably the most cataclysmic event in human history. The World War II Veterans Memorial Highway was designated in 1998.