By: Sarah Jakel

On January 23 the names came down. On a winter afternoon twelve years after the first one was posted Social Studies teacher Tom Trotter took down over 6 thousand names of American service men and women. Trotter has been collecting the names of the fallen American soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan war for the last twelve years as a way to keep a running total of casualties suffered in these two wars. The first name went up on the wall August 18, 2003, and since then, at the first of every month, Trotter has updated the list of names for both wars. The last name was added on December 19, 2014 and the total came to 6,845.

Trotter said he began posting the names as a way of honoring the soldiers who had given their lives for their country. Honor, he said, is when, “people are aware of what people have done and the possible sacrifices.” Any student who walked into Trotter’s room could see the thousands of names covering the back of the  classroom. Trotter said, “The collection of names started in 2003 because the war was costing $2 billion and there were Americans dying.” Trotter said the idea of putting every fallen soldier’s name around the room was to make students aware of the war. The war in Iraq ended on March 20, 2003 and the war in Afghanistan officially ended on December 28, 2014 with a flag lowering ceremony in Kabul. United States President Obama said, “this was the longest war in American history and is coming to a responsible conclusion.” But Trotter said that although the war has ended “there are still soldiers in danger but there are no more deployments and ruined lives.”  Trotter said he believes patriotism has nothing to do with the American flag, Pledge of Allegiance, or the National Anthem. According to Trotter, “Patriotism is actually doing something for the well being of your country.”Along with the thousands of names filling the back wall there are pictures of soldiers’ caskets. Trotter said these pictures were posted illegally to the internet and he made copies of them before George Bush requested that they were taken down. The American government did not want these pictures of caskets covered by American flags floating around the internet. Trotter said that taking down the names was saddening. This was a project he worked on for many years and Trotter said, “ It’s become a part of my daily routine and a part of my classroom.”