Inside Iowa State

Nov. 3, 2006

MU ceremony will honor ISU's fallen in Iraq

by Dan Kuester, News Service

A Nov. 10 ceremony will honor Iowa State University's two Iraq casualties.

It will begin at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall and then move to Gold Star Hall, the memorial area located at the north entrance to the building. The public is invited. Memorial Union director Richard Reynolds and vice president for student affairs Tom Hill will speak briefly. Military personnel will honor the two soldiers.

A reception for the families, also in the Great Hall, will follow the ceremony.

Honored will be:

1st Lt. David Giaimo, a 2003 graduate of the College of Business (finance) and member of the ISU Army ROTC program. He was from Waukegan, Ill. Giaimo was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga. He died Aug. 12, 2005, in Tikrit, Iraq, when his Humvee hit a land mine. He was 24 years old.

Pfc. Eric Woods, who attended ISU from 1997 to 1999. He grew up in Urbandale and lived in Omaha with his wife, Jamie, and young son, Eric Scott. Woods was a combat medic assigned to Grim Troop 2nd Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Carson, Colo. He died on July 9, 2005, in Tal 'Afar, Iraq, when his ambulance struck an improvised explosive device that caused the vehicle to overturn. He was in the area to evacuate a wounded soldier. He was 26 years old.

Gold Star Hall

Since World War I, the Memorial Union has maintained Gold Star Hall, a memorial for Iowa State students who have died in military conflict. For this ceremony, Giaimo and Woods' names have been engraved on a temporary wooden plaque. Traditionally, names aren't added to the limestone until the conflict is over and all the possible candidates are considered.

A ceremony to honor two former Iowa State students killed in Iraq will be held Nov. 10 in the Memorial Union.