The War in Afghanistan has been ongoing for more than 11 years, and during that time around 2,200 servicemembers have lost their lives in combat. In an effort to pay tribute to the fallen troops, a former sailor who was deployed in Afghanistan recently completed an impressive undertaking. Earlier this year, Ron White constructed a temporary wall and wrote the name of every servicemember killed in action on it – all from memory, Military Times reports.
White started the process in May 2012 when he began to commit the names of every soldier to memory. In February, he began the painstaking process of constructing the wall and writing all the names, a task which took him an estimated 11 hours. The unique tribute garnered attention from families of servicemembers who were killed in Afghanistan and many people stopped by to witness the progress. It certainly was not an easy task.
"It was emotionally draining, physically and mentally," White told Military Times.
White expects to repeat the tribute several times in the future at other places throughout the country. While he is working on that, however, there are numerous other tributes going on dedicated to soldiers. For instance, the Big Ten Conference recently honored wounded warriors during each day of the Big Ten Conference Championship.