Visiting tribute features veterans with ties to Gretna community

In a tribute to fallen heroes, the ‘Nebraska Remember our Fallen Exhibit’ brings together communities to remember those who gave their lives in the Global War on Terror. The “Nebraska Remembering our Fallen Exhibit” is a photographic war memorial that recognizes and honors the country’s Fallen from The Global War on Terror (9/11/2001 – 8/30/2021). What sets this apart from other memorials is that it is designed to travel. The goal is for U.S. soldiers to be remembered and their names spoken while helping to lessen the grief of their families.
This memorial was especially meaningful to junior Wyatt Robinson. His father, 29-year-old Joshua Robinson, a Sergeant in the Marines who died in Afghanistan in 2011, was featured in the display.
“It means a lot to me and my family that schools acknowledge our fallen troops,” Robinson said. “It’s really amazing that they are putting up the wall of the fallen in schools especially mine.”
The memorial was stationed in the school’s commons from Feb. 5 through Feb. 9 and specifically featured Nebraska natives. This was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that Gretna Public Schools chose to display the exhibit. As the student body of Gretna High School grew in population, the space for the memorial shrunk, but with a new school that has room to grow, the administration decided it was a good time to bring it back.
“We thought we had the room and availability for it,” Principal Chad Jepsen said. “So thinking through where to put it and choosing the best place to give people that come to basketball games or activities a chance to see it and our students as well.”
On each poster board of each veteran, there is the veteran’s name, along with a picture of them and their birthplace. There was a description of their death including where they passed, what date it happened, how old they were and how it happened. A few examples listed on the boards were roadside bombs, noncombat, variations of wounds, helicopter shot down, rocket attacks and explosion vehicle accidents. On most posters, there were even notes or letters from their family or friends who wrote to them while they were on duty or after they died.
“It’s just a good reminder of those things,” Jepsen said, “and also the veterans and people in the community.”
Another veteran with Gretna ties was on display in the exhibit, too: 2004 Gretna High graduate, Matthew Alexander. Following graduation, he joined the United States Army on July 24, 2004. After basic training, he was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. On May 6, 2007, Alexander and five others in his unit were killed by a roadside Improvised explosive device engaged in combat operations in Baqubah, Iraq.
While the ‘Nebraska Remember Our Fallen Exhibit’ by itself was powerful, the fact that some of those who were on display had ties directly to the Gretna community made the exhibit that much more engaging for students and staff.
“I walked past it a couple of times on my way out of school,” junior Carter Craven said. “I found it very cool that the school would recognize our veterans in that way.”