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Team Fortress 2 adds a permanent tribute to Soldier voice actor Rick May

He's standing guard at spawn

The voice actor for Team Fortress 2's Soldier character died earlier this year after contracting the Covid-19 coronavirus, leading Valve to add a pretty extensive tribute to Rick May to the game. The prominent bronze memorial statues and title screen update only lasted through the month of May, but Valve have now updated the game with a smaller, permanent tribute.

As with the original tribute which was quietly mentioned in the game's update notes, the permanent addition is listed in the August 21st update notes. One of the bronze statues from the original tribute has been added to a busted up silo on the "cp_granary" map.

Looks like the location of the statue is the one used in the animated short "Meet The Soldier" in which The Soldier gives a speech with an interesting interpretation of Sun Tzu's The Art Of War. The decapitated heads of his captive audience sit in the foreground.

It's definitely a more understated tribute than the original. You can spot the statue outside the playable area near the red team's spawn on the granary map. If you actually go check it out in game, your view will be somewhat obstructed by a chain link fence. It's far enough away that you can't read it while playing properly, but it appears to be the same statue as the originals with the plaque reading "Rick May 1940-2020 – That was a hell of a campaign, son".

It's definitely a nice touch for Valve to roll the temporary tribute into something lasting, if a bit smaller.

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