Ross Gartman, president of Heroes Way, told the crowd at the Veterans Day Ceremony at Missouri State Veterans Cemetery about his friend who was the inspiration for Heroes Way. In July 2009, the State of Missouri passed the Heroes Way Bill, formally known as the "Heroes Way Interstate Inter-change Designation Program," which allows relatives of Missourians who died in combat during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom to ask that an interstate interchange or a section of a state highway be named in the soldier's honor.