Remembering Our Fallen
NEBRASKA
Aug. 15-20: Veterans Home, Norfolk
Aug. 22-27: Library, Nebraska City
Aug. 29-Sept. 3: Hastings Museum, Hastings
Sept. 5-11: VFW, Plattsmouth
IOWA
Aug. 16-23: Main Street Library, Davenport
Aug. 25-31: Mills County Museum, Glenwood
Sept. 6-11: Onawa Public Library, Onawa
A somber photo exhibit featuring every Nebraska service member killed in Iraq or Afghanistan has proven so popular traveling the Cornhusker State that its designers have put together similar exhibits for Iowa and now Missouri.
Remembering Our Fallen premieres in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo., at 2 p.m. Sunday. Some 130 Missourians killed in the post-9/11 wars will be featured in that exhibit, and many of their family members will attend the opening, said Bill Williams, the exhibit's co-organizer.
That premiere comes eight months after Bill and Evonne Williams of Omaha organized Nebraska's Remembering Our Fallen, an event that started at the Strategic Air & Space Museum and has since crisscrossed the state and been seen by thousands of Nebraskans.
The Nebraska exhibit features the photos of about 75 service members who either were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan or died during or after a deployment. Fifty-five of those Nebraskans died in combat, Bill Williams said.
In Iowa and Missouri, the Williamses limited the exhibit to those who died in combat.
Some 75 Iowans and 130 Missourians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Nebraska and Iowa exhibits both are booked through the end of the year, typically traveling to a different small town or medium-size city every week.
Recently the Nebraska exhibit was installed in the Sidney, Neb., Public Library. More than 1,600 people walked through the exhibit in five days, the library's director told the Williamses.
"These wars don't directly affect many people, so it's touching to see so many people come out," Bill Williams said. "I know the families are so touched by the outpouring in these communities."
Bill and Evonne Williams are beloved by many of Nebraska's World War II veterans because they organized seven Honor Flights that took those vets to the national war memorials in Washington, D.C.
Now, with the sponsorship of Bellevue University, they are starting to take Remembering the Fallen nationwide. Bill Williams said they hope to have exhibits in eight states by next year.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1064, matthew.hansen@owh.com
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