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Ten black granite memorial plaques etched with the names of those who died in post-9\/11 conflicts were unveiled at Rosie the Riveter Park this Memorial Day. Photos by Jason Ruiz.<\/em><\/p>\n A wall memorializing the nearly 7,000 American service members who sacrificed their lives in wars waged since 9\/11 was unveiled at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach yesterday. Ten black granite slabs replaced the ivy that once adorned a 1,200 foot section of the pre-existing wall at the park, each one containing the engraved names of those who died over the past 15 years, including 15 servicemen from Long Beach.<\/p>\n The wall was the brainchild of Long Beach resident Laura Herzog, who helped co-found a group called Honoring Our Fallen (HOF), which focuses on supporting the families of those service members who were killed in action or training exercises while serving the country in the years since the terrorist attacks in New York City.<\/p>\n HOF provides a variety of services for survivors, including a children\u2019s bereavement program that sends gifts during the holidays, birthdays and even helps with school supplies and offers various retreats for surviving family members. Its \u201cFlag for Every Hero\u201d program executed its goal this weekend in placing over 250,000 miniature flags at grave sites at Riverside National Cemetery.<\/p>\n But the wall was a mission unlike any other undertaken by the group.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to see so many families that I\u2019ve served here today, seeing their loved one\u2019s name,\u201d Herzog said. \u201cTo them, every day is Memorial Day. It\u2019s beautiful for them to see it and I\u201dm thankful that this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n A few hundred people were on hand for the unveiling ceremony Monday, but the day started much earlier.<\/p>\n At 6:00AM, fully-uniformed armed service members began to recite the names of all 6,864 service members whose names are included on the memorial wall, an exercise that lasted just short of six and a half hours. When the tarps were lifted the crowd moved in to get a closer look, some looking for the names of their loved ones, touching the part of the wall where their names will be kept forever in stone.<\/p>\n The quest to build the wall\u2014which cost about $55,000 to build and still requires some future financing to complete<\/a>\u2014started in November 2009 when Herzog was sent on her first casualty mission.<\/p>\n![\"LauraHerzogHOF\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/LauraHerzogHOF.JPG\")
Herzog has spent the better part of two years gathering the necessary donations to construct the 1,200-foot living memorial to those lost in the country\u2019s most recent military conflicts, one that\u2019s believed to be the only fixed memorial in the country dedicated to Iraq-Afghanistan casualties. The culmination of her efforts came yesterday when marines pulled back the tarps covering the eastern wall at Rosie the Riveter Park to reveal 10 black granite slabs with the names of the fallen etched onto them.<\/p>\n
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The wall will eventually include the names of canines and veterans of these wars that are lost to suicide. The names are listed in chronological order with the last casualty on the northern part of the wall being that of Petty Officer First Class Charles Keating IV, a Navy SEAL who was killed this month in Northern Iraq fighting the Islamic State.<\/p>\n