National traveling memorial honors local fallen heroes

     “We must remember these American heroes and speak their names when we see their family members. We can never forget those who sacrificed everything for our freedom,” said Bill Williams, co-creator of the memorial. “While this memorial is about those who have died, it was created for the living…to help the families in their grief, while reminding the rest of us of the terrible price paid for our freedom by our current generation of military.”

   A very emotional memorial, “Remembering Our Fallen,” is a stark reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by Iowa veterans killed in The War on Terror while wearing our country’s uniform in a war zone. The photo memorial, which includes military and personal photos of each of Iowa’s fallen, will be on display in Anamosa, Nov. 8 through 12 at the Lawrence Community Center, 600 E. Main St. An opening ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8 and a closing ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

During the week, “Remembering Our Fallen” will be open to the public during the Lawrence Community Center's normal hours of operation, Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 9, the hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

   Local heroes on “Remembering Our Fallen” exhibit are:

   • Sergeant First Class Terry L. Pasker, killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan, was born and spent his elementary years in Anamosa.

   • Private First-Class David M. Kirchhoff, died in a non-combat related incident in Iraq, whose family lived in Anamosa at the time of his death.

   • Staff Sergeant Donald D. Griffith, Jr. of Mechanicsville, killed in combat in Iraq.

   • Sergeant Michael Ristau, a Cascade native, died after the vehicle he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.

   There is no admission charge to this exhibit as it is sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars, Gale Edwards Post 4077, as a 125^th anniversary commemorative event.

   The financial sponsor of the memorial is Bellevue University, a private, non-profit university in Bellevue, Neb. Founded in 1966, it has been a military-friendly school for 45 years. Bellevue University was an early adopter of distance learning and is now a leader in online education with students in every state and 55 foreign countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq.

   This memorial, and 14 other state memorials, representing 60 percent of our country’s fallen since Sept. 11, 2001, have been created by Patriotic Productions, a non-profit organization headquartered in Omaha, Neb. A national traveling memorial has also been created and it includes over 5,000 of our country’s fallen (since Sept. 11, 2001) from every state. This national memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C. in late 2017. More information can be found at RememberingOurFallen.org.