Opening today and staying for only three days is an art exhibit that has become an iconic symbol for the men and women who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The Lima Company Memorial: The Eyes of Freedom exhibit features life-size paintings depicting 23 Marines from the small Ohio Reserves unit L 3/25 who were killed in action in 2005 in Iraq.
Mike Strahle served with Lima Company and now shepherds the exhibit around the U.S. He said the exhibit has a broader reach than just his generation.
“It is a great example of a traveling exhibit for this modern war on terror. I don’t even want to limit it to just this war,” Strahle said. “We have so many men and women that come in and see our exhibit from WWII, Korea, Vietnam (wars), and it’s just as moving for them as it is for the 25 to 35-year-olds that have fought in the current war on terror.”
The Lima Company Memorial was open for three days in Clearwater before moving to the Tampa USF Campus.
The USF Student Veterans Association is hosting the traveling exhibit which is set up at the Marshall Center. Marine Reservist Patrick Sweickart hopes the exhibit will bring closure to his fellow student veterans who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There's a ton of student veterans whether they were active duty going to school or Reservist or National Guard for Florida that while they were going to classes got called to order, called to serve, they had to leave in the middle of the semester and do a tour,” Sweickart said.
The Lima Company Memorial - Eyes of Freedom is free and open to the public.
The hours at USF's Marshall Center are: Monday noon-8 pm, Tuesday 8 am-8 pm, and Wednesday 8am-4 pm.
The exhibit will then move on to Melbourne for a three-day stop before returning to Ohio.
