Today we remember those who have fallen for the cause of promoting freedom and defending the rights of all men. God Bless those troops who’ve given their ultimate sacrifice and God Bless those families who have lost loved ones.
I thought this would also be a good time to share with you my experience today.
I found out about a memorial set up each year (since 2003) one week before Memorial Day & taken down one week after Independence Day. Now there are efforts in the works to make this memorial permanent. The city of Irvine has approved $150,000 of the estimated $387,000 costs for a permanent memorial at Northwood Community Park. This will include a new arc memorial with the interior wall displaying the names of those who’ve fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I wanted to see it first hand so I went over and took some pictures of the memorial.
Pictures below the fold
Freedom Is Not Free
WWI 1917-1918
KIA 116,516
WWII 1940-1945
KIA 405,339
Korean War 1950-1953
KIA 36,568
Vietnam War 1964-1975
KIA 58,203
First Gulf War 1990-1991
KIA 382
Iraqi Freedom 2003-present
KIA 4082
See more photos of the services that have been held at the memorial. This place has drawn huge crowds the last couple years.
There is more information at NorthwoodMemorial.com
You can also watch a short documentary here, if you’re interested in seeing the story behind the memorial.
More news coverage of the impact this memorial has had on the community.
We come here everyday
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to provide fresh flowers, water, ribbons, bows, flags, pictures, information, wreaths, mementos.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to look, to read, to think, to ponder.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to help.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to greet each other.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to sadly add to this memorial.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to light candles.
We come here everyday as friends and neighbors to hear taps.
Let us not ever forget why we come here every day.
We come here everyday.
