42 names added to Special Ops memorial

The brass bell tolled 37 times _ once for each of the Special Operations soldiers who died in Iraq during the past year _ after their names were added to a memorial wall at Fort Bragg.

About 200 family members sat under tents during the ceremony, dabbing at their eyes as names were read. Several hundred stone-faced soldiers clad in the green or tan berets of the Special Forces or Rangers stood outside.

"Their deeds are legends, and we will recount them for years," said Lt. Gen. Richard Wagner, head of the Army Special Operations Command.

About 1,000 names are on the copper-plated wall, which was created after Vietnam but grew with other conflicts. Five names from the Korean War also were added Thursday. One soldier's mission recently was declassified and the others were somehow overlooked until now, Wagner said.

Even as the soldiers were honored, there was a somber reminder that they will soon be joined by others. Four more soldiers have died since the March 31 cutoff for this year's additions, and they will be added next year.

At the end of the ceremony, many went to the wall and touched names or left a rose at the base. Some made rubbings of loved ones' names.

One soldier honored was Sgt. Jimmy Regan, a 2002 Duke University economics graduate and lacrosse player who became an Army Ranger after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York killed many people he knew who worked in the buildings, his father said.

"It's a special day. It's very good closure for the family," said his father, James Regan of Manhasset, N.Y. "He was raised a patriot."

Renee Dickinson of Battle Creek, Mich., came to honor her brother, Staff Sgt. Michael Dickenson II, who was killed July 17 by a sniper in Iraq.

"It's good to talk to other families who are going through the same thing we went through," she said.

The ceremony followed a 82nd Airborne Division memorial held Wednesday that honored 59 paratroopers killed in combat during the past year. The number killed in the 82nd was the most in the previous five years since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.