Calligraphers Plan to Honor Fallen Troops

Raleigh, N.C. — The Raleigh City Council is expected to approve a project to honor troops killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Carolina Lettering Arts Society is sponsoring the Namegrams Project.

More than 100 calligraphers inscribed the names and ages of all U.S. casualties onto strips of brown paper bearing the notation, "This is an American hero killed in Iraq or Afghanistan."

More than 4,000 servicemen and women have been killed in the two countries since 2001.

The tags will be hung on trees along Fayetteville Street in Raleigh during the annual Veterans Day parade in November.

"It's very meaningful when you write a name," Dara Linn, a member of the organization, told WRAL when the group first proposed the idea to the City Council in early August.

"I think it definitely brings it home to people to write the names of people who lost their lives and realize how many names there are and particularly how some of these men and women are very young, just beginning their lives," Linn said.

City officials had previously proposed limiting the time the tags are hanging to two weeks and other modifications aimed lessening the stress on trees and limiting the amount of cleanup.

The City Council plans a final vote on the Namegrams project this week.