Names written in stone, history

Wayne Smith with the Waco, Texas-based monument business Phipps Memorial, sands down the names of fallen heroes at the Operation Iraqi Freedom memorial beside Fort Hood, Texas’s Cooper Field April 16. The 1st Cavalry Division’s memorial is scheduled to be rededicated May 16. In the Global War on Terrorism, Fort Hood has lost the most troops of any military base accounting for more than 400 of the over 4,000 fallen heroes. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

A Phipps Memorial associate who oversees production for the monument business Wayne Smith puts the finishing touches on the name engraving of Spc. Ronnie G. Madore Jr., at the 1st Cavalry Division’s Operation Iraqi Freedom memorial located at Fort Hood, Texas, April 16. The native of San Diego who died in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle Feb. 14, 2007, was assigned to the First Team’s 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

Wayne Smith, the shop foreman of the Waco, Texas-based monument business Phipps Memorial, etches out the name of Sgt. Robert B. Thrasher at the Fort Hood’s Operation Iraqi Freedom memorial located in front of the 1st Cavalry Division’s headquarters building April 16. Thrasher, a Folsom, Calif., native assigned to the Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Bliss, Texas, was 23 years old when he died Feb. 11, 2007, from wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy small arms fire. His unit later dedicated their outpost located in southern Ghazaliyah to him – Coalition Outpost Thrasher. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

Wayne Smith with the Waco, Texas-based monument business Phipps Memorial adds names of fallen Soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08 at the 1st Cavalry Division’s OIF memorial beside Fort Hood, Texas’s Cooper Field April 16. The memorial is scheduled to be rededicated with a ceremony May 16. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

Wayne Smith with the Waco, Texas-based monument business Phipps Memorial adds names of fallen Soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08 at the 1st Cavalry Division’s OIF memorial beside Fort Hood, Texas’s Cooper Field April 16. The names are etched using a special sand blasted out at 115 pounds of pressure. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey
Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)