One more reminder of the meaning of Memorial Day and, I promise, I’ll say no more today.
In honor of our fallen troops, CNN.com has created an amazing interactive “Home & Away map” which includes information about all of the men and women who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars since 2001.
It is a stunning, interactive map where you can learn where our heroes lived and how and where they died on the battlefields, in the deserts, in the mountains and in the streets of towns and cities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, the distribution according to age (note how young most of them were), home states and when they died.
For example, point and click to Monroe, MI, and the names of the two service members from that town who died in Iraq will pop up. Click on one of the names, and you’ll see where and how he died. You can also leave a message or memory about them for their families.
Amazing and sad.
Please take a moment during the final hours on this Memorial Day to visit the site and honor our fallen soldiers here and here.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.