First Battle Memorial

"It's not enough for us to remember them. It has to be something the whole galaxy can understand. However trumped-up the war was, they still did their duty and died."

―Mandalorian contractor Kal Skirata, speaking of the fallen clone troopers^[4]

The First Battle Memorial was a large, commemorative monument meant to honor the many clone soldiers who perished in the opening battle of the Clone Wars on Geonosis. An enormous slab of Geonosian rock, the sculpted wall was engraved with the numerical designations of the fallen troopers and erected in the outdoor plaza of the Republic military base on Coruscant, the Galactic Republic's capital, where it remained for the duration of the war.

Description[]

The First Battle Memorial^[2] was an enormous slab of reddish-brown rock,^[3] drawn from a Geonosian spire, polished^[2] and carved to form a thick, three-dimensional rectangle.^[1] Engraved into the stone in black Aurebesh lettering were the designations of the^[3] thousands of clone troopers^[5] who died during the first battle of the Clone Wars on Geonosis. Near the monument's center, the words "Battle of Geonosis" were etched in Aurebesh, and above which the Galactic Roundel was inlaid.^[3] The First Battle Memorial was placed at the heart of the Republic military base's outdoor plaza on Coruscant, where it stood between two large, grey obelisks bearing sculpted clone trooper statues. At night, the memorial was illuminated by several lights at the base of the monument.^[1]

History[]

In the year 22 BBY, the clone soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic were deployed to the Outer Rim world of Geonosis, where they clashed with the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Though the Republic would ultimately emerge victorious, thousands of clone troopers perished in the fighting. From the battle on Geonosis, the galaxy became embroiled in a conflict that came to be known as the Clone Wars, as the Galactic Republic and Confederacy fought across a multitude of worlds.^[5]

To honor the clone troopers who fell in combat during the Clone Wars' first battle, a memorial was commissioned to commemorate their service.^[3] Erected on the Republic capital of Coruscant, in the heart of the plaza outside the Republic military base, the First Battle Memorial was completed^[1] prior to 20 BBY. That year,^[6] the fugitive Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano fled the Republic military base where she had been incarcerated on false charges of murder, running along the top of the First Battle Memorial to evade pursuing security forces.^[1]

In the days that followed the Clone Wars' end, the Mandalorian military contractor Kal Skirata—a former member of the Cuy'val Dar and military adviser to the Republic's Grand Army during the war—began to formulate plans for a new memorial for fallen clone troopers.^[4] Unlike the First Battle Memorial,^[3] Skirata aimed to create a monument to commemorate every trooper who died in service to the Republic during the course of the entire war,^[4] rather than just its opening battle.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

The monument wall was first introduced in the eighteenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season, "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much," which debuted on Canadian television on February 15, 2013, before airing the following day in the United States. The monument featured as a notable set piece during protagonist Ahsoka Tano's escape from Republic custody. Shortly after the episode's Canadian premiere, a post on the official Star Wars: The Clone Wars Facebook page elaborated upon the nature and significance of the memorial, which was later provided a proper name in the StarWars.com Trivia Gallery for "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much."

The memorial is supposed to list the designations of the clone troopers that fell during the First Battle of Geonosis;^[7] however, when translated, the Aurebesh inscriptions turn out to be nothing but meaningless gibberish.^[1]