MARK WAITE / PVT The name of U.S. Army Sgt. John C. Griffith is etched on a rock added recently to the Red Rock Memorial. MARK WAITE / PVT Survivors of the late Army Sgt. John C. Griffith listening during Dec. 9 ceremonies at Red Rock National Recreational Area are, from left, his daughter, Kailyn Griffith, 3, his parents, Barbara and Bob Griffith of Pahrump, and his sister, Katherine Griffith-Tyler. Advertisement

A tearful Kathy Tyler recalled how Red Rock Canyon was the favorite place of her brother, U.S. Army Sgt. John C. Griffith, who was killed in Aftghanistan last May 5.

Tyler remembered how her brother taught her the art of rappelling at Red Rock. He let her wear the gloves so her hands wouldn't get cut up.

Hers was one of the emotional speeches Saturday morning during the commemoration of another rock full of 12 names of fallen soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past year. Griffith was the son of Bob and Barbara Griffith of Pahrump.

(It was incorrectly reported in the Dec. 13 edition that Griffith had died in Iraq.)

Bob Griffith remembered getting that visit dreaded by every parent of a soldier in a war zone. It was 5:30 a.m. when a U.S. Army representative knocked at his door in Pahrump, trying to locate John's widow.

"He was with us last Christmas and he was supposed to be with us this Christmas," Bob Griffith said as he looked at the stone with the names of 42 soldiers before the official ceremony. Forty-two American flags flapped in the cool breeze along the entrance driveway to the visitors center.

Sgt. Griffith, a member of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, died when his Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afganistan's Kunar province. His father said John was a door gunner who had been in Afghanistan four months.

"He was doing what he wanted. He was going to get out (of the military) a year and a half after he got over there," Bob Griffith said.

He is a U.S. Air Force Vietnam veteran who retired as a Las Vegas Metro police officer after 27 years.

Sgt. Griffith's widow, Christa Griffith, of Henderson, said her husband died at 10 p.m. Afghanistan time while trying to evacuate soldiers dropped behind enemy lines. They rescued three soldiers but five were still remaining, who saw his helicopter go down.

"The last thing my husband said to those five they left laying on the ground was 'God bless you and be safe' ... There's nothing I can do to make him come back. There's no answer I can give to your questions."

The father of U.S. Marine veteran Richard Perez Jr. said when the military started to give him the notification of his son's death the words cut like a knife: "There was an incident in Iraq."

The father of one deceased soldier recalled how U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., notified him of his son's death saying respectfully, "I don't know where we get boys like this."

The mother of U.S. Marine Nicholas Anderson played his last recorded message on her cellular phone. Ironically he assured his mother, "As a medic I don't have to do anything dangerous." That was one week before an improvised explosive device struck his Humvee.

The mother of U.S. Army Spc. Ignacio Ramirez said she was told her son could be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. She declined, saying she'd rather he be buried back in Nevada, as if he was coming home.

Christa Griffith said after the ceremony that, with all the attention on the Iraq War, people sometimes forget about Afghanistan.

"I just want everyone to remember there's 240 gone from Afghanistan," she said. "The men and women are fighting the same war in Afghanistan."

Indeed on the plaque at the Red Rock Visitors Center, Ensign is quoted as saying during the commemoration ceremonies Dec. 17, 2005: "In this serene and tranquil place, surrounded by the majestic beauty of God's creation, we pay homage and tribute to those gallant young Nevadans who gave their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom."

The names on the rocks include that of U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney, a Tonopah High School graduate, one of the first casualties in Iraq in the battle for Al Nasiriyah in March 2003.

A number of dignitaries paid homage to the soldiers names added to the rock memorial. Most said they hoped they wouldn't have to return in another year to commemorate more names.

Steve McCraken, senior vice-president of the Bank of America, said the memorial will help us remember their sacrifices.

"What more fitting place to have a memorial in such a beautiful location as Red Rock," Juan Palma, the field manager of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said. "On behalf of the BLM I want you to know we support our troops not only in Iraq but everywhere around the world."

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Allen, part of the honor guard for the ceremonies, said people can travel to Washington, D.C., and see lots of monuments.

"This monument is local because their legacy will live forever," Sgt. Allen said. "They never believed they were heroes, they would say they were simply doing their duty."

Margo Allen, representing Ensign, said the senator was in Washington during the final hours of the congressional session, which adjourned at 2:30 a.m., and couldn't attend. But in a prepared statement, Ensign said, "We are saddened to add another stone, but proud to add another memorial."

The memorial was the brainchild of Helena Lukac, whose son, Marine Corps Pfc. John Lukac died in 2004 in Iraq.

Lukac was unable to attend because of surgery. But she wrote, "I wanted to believe no more names would be added to this memorial. But sad to say, this is not the case."

State Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, noted the ceremony came two days after commemorating the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Heck said as Americans grow weary and impatient with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he increasingly hears them question, "Why do they do it?"

"I quickly answer them: They do it because they possess values that are generally lacking in today's society, values like loyalty, duty, respect. Values that include selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage," Heck said.

Heck offered the thanks of a grateful state. "Find solace in the thought that they died not in vain, but in the service of a greater cause," he said.

U.S. Army. (Ret.) Brig. Gen. Gen. Ashley Hall, a former chaplain, said the members of the audience shouldn't be mourning, but should thank God for having people like this.

"Thomas Jefferson said freedom is not really free, it must be paid for by every generation," Hall said.

He added a verse of scripture from John, Chapter 15, Verse 13: "A man hath no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends."

Hall said one of his greatest concerns when he retired is whether the next generation would live up to the same values. He recalled his son who fought in the Iraqi conflict in 2003, fighting from Kuwait to Baghdad and the prayer he mouthed at that time: "I just pray the wisdom of the Lord be with the president of the United States," Hall said.

Nevada Comptroller Steve Martin, a 12-year Marine Corps veteran, said, "an event like this means a lot, not only for the families that are here today but all the veterans."

The nation has lost some of the best and brightest, who were all volunteers, he said.

Martin quoted the words of a soldier fighting in Fallujah, Iraq: "I face death with the secure knowledge you will not have to."

Phil Randazzo, a Las Vegas area businessman who made the stone monument possible as part of an organization called Defending Freedom, said he wasn't a veteran but was extremely touched while visiting wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital recently.

While delivering DVDs to the soldiers, he met a 19-year-old from Iowa who lost both his arms. The soldier couldn't put on his contact lenses and asked for the return of his glasses left in Iraq. He also asked unselfishly for a medal for the soldier who pulled him from his Humvee and saved his life.

"These guys did not ask for anything," Randazzo said.