SAN DIEGO - A major change is in the works for the memorial atop Mount Soledad.

This year's Veterans Day observance on Mount Soledad has even more significance. The 3,000 black granite plaques on the walls of the memorial are about to get some company.

10News has learned that groundbreakings for two new walls started this past week. The new walls will hold 2,000 new plaques.

"I'm very excited because as the walls fill up and you take the time to look at those individuals who are reflected on that wall, we have the opportunity to fill and commemorate even more," said retired Navy Rear Adm. Len Hering.

The existing walls are nearly full and there is a demand for more space.

Anyone can purchase a plaque and place it there in honor of a veteran, living or passed.

"It's a great way to say 'thank you' for the freedoms that the rest of America has," said Hering.

The plaques can be traced back to 1989, which was when the first lawsuit was filed to take down the Mount Soledad cross.

"Sometimes good things come out of bad because what it did was it motivated us to expand the memorial… to build the walls, to add the plaques, to put a flagpole in and to make sure that people understood what it was all about," said William Kellogg, the president of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association.

Now, 23 years later, the Mount Soledad Memorial is a national monument, honoring veterans from the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in the Middle East.

The additions are expected to be completed in the next two to three months.