The area around Richmond had been a favoured site for wealthy Londoners to construct country houses since medieval times.

Cherry and Pevsner note that, after Westminster, "no other London borough has a greater wealth of major palaces and mansions than Richmond upon Thames".

The statue is unusual for showing a "joyful returning soldier, in contrast to the more conventional attitudes of watchfulness or mourning".

[10] Three of the bronze plaques are figurative relief sculptures showing: three airmen (to the west); two women, one a nurse and the other a Voluntary Aid Detachment volunteer (north); and two naval officers and a rating (east).

The memorial was sited to form a vista towards the Star and Garter Home for disabled servicemen, previously located on Richmond Hill to the northeast.

[12] It was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet, on 2 November 1921, at a ceremony attended by a band from the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall nearby and a large crowd sheltering under umbrellas against the continuous rain.