Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial, Irvine

The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial is a memorial in Irvine, California, to American troops who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The names on the memorial come from US DoD casualty records for Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. Located at Northwood Community Park, on the corner of Yale and Bryan in Northwood, Irvine, California, it is the only known memorial in the United States dedicated to listing by name all American service men and women killed in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Local community members assembled annually from 2003 through 2010 to erect a temporary memorial in the park, hold public ceremonies on Memorial Day, July 5, September 11, Veterans Day and conduct nightly candlelight vigils throughout each June and early July. A permanent memorial was built as a joint community and city project in the same location as the temporary memorial as part of the 14-acre community park. It was dedicated in a ceremony on November 14, 2010. ()