This Memorial Day, we’re reflecting on a project that carries deep meaning and a powerful sense of purpose. While our mission at Natrx is focused on coastal resilience and habitat restoration, we’re honored when that work intersects with something as profoundly human as remembrance.
In collaboration with Veterans Memorial Reef (VMR), we had the privilege of designing custom ExoForms™ to help memorialize 10 U.S. veterans as part of a living reef off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. Each ExoForm serves as a permanent, personalized marker, containing the veteran’s cremated remains and becoming part of a thriving marine habitat. Each also includes a plaque inscribed with the veteran’s service details, a tribute that will face the morning sunrise each day beneath the sea.
This initiative addresses a growing challenge: limited space in federal cemeteries. Families who choose VMR’s services receive the full dignity of a military burial, including honor guards, taps, and ceremonial support, before joining a boat-led ceremony to witness the placement of their loved one’s memorial at sea. These tributes are now part of an expanding artificial reef at a site known as AR372, or Five-Mile Boxcar Reef.
At the core of this project are Natrx ExoForms™: habitat-specific, eco-positive reef modules that provide resilience and restoration by supporting natural habitat growth. Created using our patented Dry Forming™ process, these structures were precisely tailored for this meaningful application. Because Dry Forming allows us to move rapidly from design to deployment, we were able to deliver quickly and respectfully in support of VMR’s ceremonial timeline.
Beyond honoring service, these reef markers contribute to long-term environmental impact—supporting the growth of healthy habitat that filters water, increases biodiversity, and reinforces coastal resilience. It’s a rare privilege for our technology to serve both emotional and ecological purposes in a single project.
We thank the families, Veterans Memorial Reef, and the broader community for allowing us to support this powerful initiative. We’re proud to continue working with VMR to expand this program and help more families honor their loved ones in a way that fosters both legacy and life.
To learn more about the project, we encourage you to read this story from WWAY3 or this feature from WHQR, which capture the emotional significance and environmental value of this effort.
And you can learn more about the Veterans Memorial Reef at veteransmemorialreef.org.
