Mansfield will host its Veterans Day parade Saturday morning. The parade starts at 10 a.m. and will wind through downtown.
Near the corner of Main and Broad Streets is a memorial to more than five thousand Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Remembering Our Fallen Traveling Veterans Memorial" includes 32 towers with pictures of each person.
Each entry includes two pictures: one of the person in his or her military uniform and a civilian picture of the person with family or enjoying a hobby.
"It humanizes the soldiers," says Gold Star Mom Nola Fritz, who travels with the memorial. "It makes you realize they're the kid you watched play football or the girl you babysat."
"You can see his family. Some of have sports pictures. They're playing football," says Tim Milligan, chairman of the Mansfield Veterans Memorial Foundation. "It's the story about this person's life. Unfortunately, it ends here, but it doesn't end if we keep remembering them and the contributions they made."
Some veterans had already started looking at the memorial Friday afternoon.
"It's very interesting. It's worthwhile to come check it out," a Vietnam veteran said as he browsed with his wife. "It kind of makes it sink in what everybody has done for us."
His wife was looking for someone she knew. Organizers have set out a book near the front of the display where people can find the location of the veteran they are looking for.
"This is us," Fritz says. "We have a major general; we have privates. We have women, 114 women. We have a 69-year-old gentleman; we have 18-year-olds. There are all races, probably all religions."
"There's always more to the story than just a picture of a soldier. There's the life they led that ties it together. That's why this place is so important," Milligan says.
The memorial stays open 24 hours a day.
"There will be veterans who come at 3 in the morning because they don't want anybody else," Fritz says. "They might have the opportunity to take the time to get closure."
The memorial will stay in place at the "LOT Downtown" in Mansfield through 7 p.m. Sunday. The Remembering Our Fallen Traveling Veterans Memorial will then go on display outside Houston City Hall and then the Baylor/OU game next weekend.
Details about the parade and memorial are available here.
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