An earthen retaining wall constructed with welded wire grid includes a series of soil reinforcing elements and separate facing panels with distal ends is provided. Soil reinforcing transverse elements capture the distal ends of the facing panel on both the front face side and the back face side. Capturing the distal ends on both the front side and back side horizontally secures the reinforcing elements without the aid of secondary connectors such as hog-rings, tie wires, connection pins, or other supplemental connectors. The soil reinforcing elements are free to move in the vertical direction but not in the horizontal direction.