The photographic poster project, called Fallen Heroes, is reproduced here today.
The photographs start with Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, who grew up in Carlsbad and Farmington and was killed in Afghanistan in March 2002, six months after 9/11. He was a pararescueman who died trying to save special forces under enemy fire.
The last photo on the poster is that of Army Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts of Farmington, a "Screaming Eagle" of the 101st Airborne Division. He died earlier this month on a mission in Afghanistan, his vehicle blown up by a makeshift bomb.
Between Cunningham and Roberts— the first and the latest to die— are the faces of 52 other U.S. service members who were either from New Mexico or had close ties to the state. They died in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kuwait and the Arabian Sea— far from home, but in the service of their country.
Memorial Day, observed in New Mexico and across the United States today, honors men and women who have died in the service of our country. Many New Mexicans are serving overseas in wars today.
The Department of Veterans Services will place the poster in state offices and is giving prints of the Fallen Heroes project to immediate family members of the service members who have died. There are no plans to make prints available to the public at large. The veterans department asked the Journal if it could share the project with other New Mexicans, and we present that to you today.
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