Heroes Way, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 2008 after an improvised explosive device killed Heroes Way President Ross Gartman’s friend and fellow service member Brad Skelton in Baghdad, Iraq.

Gartman assembled Heroes Way to honor the sacrifice of those who have fallen in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, our two most recent, and present wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In July 2009, the State of Missouri passed the Heroes Way Bill, formally known as the “Heroes Way Interstate Interchange Designation Program,” which allows relatives of Missourians who died in combat during these two wars to ask that an interstate interchange or a section of a state highway be named in the service member's honor.

The Heroes Way program was expanded in 2015 to allow for designations of any member of the United States Armed Forces killed in action while performing active military duty.  Sign locations were also expanded to include designations of bridges and segments of highway on the state highway system.

Memorial signs are placed near an honoree’s hometown and the Missouri Department of Transportation collects a fee for the erection and maintenance of the signs.

Heroes Way is committed to joining together with local communities to raise the necessary funds for the memorials, so that the families will not be burdened by the cost.