Navy SEAL Memorial is unveiled.

FORT PIERCE — When the 500-pound, 9-foot-tall, bronze sculpture of a modern Navy SEAL was placed atop its pedestal in the new memorial, Dave Godshall could almost say: “Mission accomplished.”

But he won’t get to say those words until Nov. 11, when the names of all Underwater Demolition Team — the “Frogmen” of World War II and modern Navy SEALs — who have died in the service of the country are carved into black, granite panels on the walls around the sculpture and its reflecting pool.

In the simple ceremony welcoming the sculpture to the National Navy UDT/SEAL Museum, retired Navy Capt. Michael Howard, museum director, hailed Godshall as the person who conceived the idea for the statue and then spurred five years of effort to build the memorial.

Both Godshall and Howard are former SEALs, an acronym for the Navy’s elite, special force which fights on land, sea and in the air.

On Monday, Godshall and others will have the first Memorial Day service in the museum’s 25-year history at the new memorial.

“Five years ago, we were losing SEALs at a rapid rate in Afghanistan,” said Godshall, a Vero Beach real estate broker. “I wondered how all those men, and all the other Frogman and SEALs were being memorialized after their funerals. I found out that nowhere in the world is there a memorial to their sacrifice. Now there is, right here in Fort Pierce where the tradition began.”

The statue was brought by a large crane, which lifted it over the trees.

Looking at the new memorial, the only one of its kind in the world, Godshall said he “felt good.”

Godshall said the museum and the memorial now can be a place where the families of the fallen can come and reflect on the sacrifices of their men.

The bronze sculpture is the work of Roy Shifrim, an internationally known sculptor with works in many American and European cities.

The sculpture does not have a name. Shifrim said he thinks the SEALs will come up with one on their own.

“I was proud to get this commission,” Shifrim said. “But I did not want it to be a sad memorial, so I designed it to be a representation of how and where the men fought. I think they would want that when their families come here.”