Kansas University students chalked 3,351 names of soldiers killed in action in the Iraq war during an event Monday night in front of Strong Hall. The KU Young Democrats organized the chalking and vigil.

Liz Stuewe, Kansas University junior, chalks names of soldiers killed in action in the Iraq war. The KU Young Democrats organized the chalking and set up a vigil Monday evening in front of Strong Hall. May 1 is the fourth anniversary of President Bush's declaration of the cessation of hostilities in Iraq. The

As he knelt on the pavement, scribing name after name for each American soldier killed in Iraq, Ben Robson felt guilty.

“Seeing these young guys that went and sacrificed, and I’m here in college – it kind of makes me feel bad,” said the Kansas University junior.

How easily it could have been him, he thought. Three years ago, fresh out of high school, Robson considered joining the Army. But his father steered him toward college.

And on Monday night, Robson counted himself as one of the lucky ones – one who gets to go to college while others fight a war – as he joined dozens of other young people in the creation of an Iraq war memorial in front of KU’s Strong Hall.

The impermanent monument consisted of the simple transcription of each of the more than 3,000 names representing American military casualties in Iraq since the day, precisely four years ago, that President Bush declared the “mission accomplished.”

The names, transcribed in letters about 3 inches high, stretched down the main walkway and continued along the boulevard.

Michael S. Deem. Adam Noel Brewer. Jacob C. Palmatier. Daniel G. Gresham.

Name after name after name.

Some of the students who knelt to write were in high school. Others attend KU. They came from different organizations and places. Ecumenical Christian Ministries. Delta Force, a student group. KU Young Democrats.

The memorial was meant to be about politics, said Julia Groeblacher, president of KU Young Democrats and an organizer of the memorial. It was meant to be a recognition of the Iraq war and its casualties, she said.

Many of the roughly 40 students who stopped to add to the memorial said the war and the dead are often overlooked or forgotten.

“It’s completely different than World War II,” Groeblacher said. “We’re not called to have a united front. We’re told to go shopping.”

And yet, for some of the students, something that can seem so far removed also hit close to home Monday.

“It’s really incredible how young they are all,” said Sonia Marcinkowski, a KU junior. Marcinkowski sat on the sidewalk, the list of names before her. “Like this person is a year younger than me.”