A traveling memorial wall honoring the lives of soldiers from New York State who died while serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan was unveiled in the Bronx Sunday.
Created and developed by the Never Forget Foundation, the portable Wall of Honor contains the names of 267 troops on six cherry wood panels.
Among the names on the wall is Army Sgt. Deon Taylor, a Bronx soldier who died in a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan in 2008.
His brother DaMarr McBean and his mother Pamela Taylor were at the ceremony Sunday, and said they were touched by the memorial. "It's been three years already," said McBean. "He's still being remembered."
The family of another young soldier killed in 2007, Marine Cpl. Christopher Scherer, also expressed appreciation for the project.
"It's always nice when someone remembers our sons," said Tim Scherer, the father of Christopher. "That's all we ask. They made the ultimate sacrifice."
A few other local soldiers honored in the wall include Sgt. James McNaughton of Middle Village, the first New York City police officer to die in combat, and Sgt. Christian Engeldrum of the Bronx, the first New York City firefighter to die in combat. Medal of Honor recipients Cpl. Jason Dunham and Lt. Michael Murphy are also listed.
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The Never Forget Foundation said this was the first portable memorial wall of its kind in the nation, and was created to be a traveling tribute to the New York military members who died in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
The organization went through hundreds of pages in Department of Defense records to gather the names and information for the memorial wall.
