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The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial is a memorial in Irvine, California, to American troops who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The names on the memorial come from US DoD casualty records for Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. Located at Northwood Community Park, on the corner of Yale and Bryan in Northwood, Irvine, California, it is the only known memorial in the United States dedicated to listing by name all American service men and women killed in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Local community members assembled annually from 2003 through 2010 to erect a temporary memorial around the park's original sign, hold public ceremonies on Memorial Day, July 5, September 11, Veterans Day and conduct nightly candlelight vigils throughout each June and early July. A permanent memorial was built as a joint community and city project in the same location as the temporary memorial as part of the 14-acre (57,000 m2) community park. It was dedicated in a ceremony on November 14, 2010.
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Chris Mandia is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director, and veteran from San Pedro, California. Serving two tours in Iraq as an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps, including 2003 invasion of Iraq and the First Battle of Fallujah. Mandia has won numerous awards for his work and received a Jack Nicholson scholarship to attend the MFA program at the University of Southern California's film school. His short play, "Fighting a Fish" won the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Region VIII's competition in 2007 In 2010, he received an Operation In Their Boots fellowship and “Get Some,” a film he authored, was a Cannes Film Festival selection. In 2012 he co-wrote the multimedia physical theatre piece, Trajectories: Transformations with Meron Langsner for Evet Arts. The piece was based on interviews with servicemen from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and was performed in Boston and Chicago.
Leroy Arthur Petry is a retired United States Army soldier. He received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in Afghanistan in 2008 during Operation Enduring Freedom.
James Patrick Hunter, of South Amherst, Ohio, was an Army journalist stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Hunter was the first Army journalist to die in combat since the beginning of the War in Afghanistan.
References
- ↑ "Sergeant Tristan Dyer". Pattillmanfoundation. Archived from the original on August 10, 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ↑ "Operation In Their Boots". Retrieved October 20, 2010
- ↑ Barlow, Zeke (August 28, 2010). "Eight local Iraq War veterans talk about their job". The Ventura County Star.
- ↑ Zavis, Alexandra (March 7, 2010). "Veterans put their own war stories on film". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ " SignOnSanDiego". Retrieved October 20, 2010
- ↑ "International Documentary Association. Retrieved October 20, 2010
- ↑ " CNN Blog". Retrieved October 20, 2010
- ↑ Landegent, Magdalene (October 11, 2010). "Filmmaker captures Iowa National Guard in action". Le Mars Daily Sentinel.
- ↑ “New England Film Fest" Archived 2010-10-29 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved October 20, 2010
- ↑ Hillard, Gloria (October 1, 2010). "Vet Filmmakers Recount War Experiences On-Screen". NPR.
- ↑ Hadly, Scott (July 3, 2010). "Veterans tell war stories on film". The Ventura County Star.
- ↑ Vankin, Deborah (November 16, 2010). "'In Their Boots' series lets soldiers call the shots". The Los Angeles Times.