Traveling Veterans Memorial Stops in Carlton

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“The Eyes of Freedom” Lima Company Memorial started off as a vision by Anita Miller from Columbus, Ohio who wanted to help grieving families of soldiers who died on the battlefield.

“It’s not always about writing a check to an organization,” “The Eyes of Freedom” Lima Company Memorial director Mike Strahle said. “Sometimes it’s just coming and spending 15 minutes in front of something that you care about.”

The 23 men depicted in the life size oil paintings are from the Lima Company, a marine reserve unit based out of Columbus, Ohio.

The soldiers deployed to Iraq for a mission in 2005 but were all killed within a matter of months by roadside bombs.

Each of the portraits were painted using real pictures of the marines loaned to Miller by their families.

“The veterans that come in here when they look at my men that I served with they’re not seeing my guys,” said Strahle. “They’re looking at men that they remember serving with. There’s veteran that really, really need some support. Really need I guess to let some baggage out and this is the place where they can do that.”

You can check out the memorial every day from 8 a.m. til 10 p.m. through this Sunday.

The memorial took 21/2 years to paint.