SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — One after the other, the families approached the 8-foot granite memorial to make a pencil rubbing on large sheets of white paper.

"Operation Iraqi Freedom" slowly appeared as Christy Nunes carefully traced over the recessed letters, erasing a bit here and there to make it just right, as two burly soldiers held the edges of the paper for her.

As she continued, a name appeared. Her husband's name: Staff Sgt. Todd E. Nunes. The 29-year-old was killed on May 2, 2004, when his convoy struck a makeshift bomb and came under small-arms fire in Kirkuk, Iraq.

The memorial unveiled yesterday to 18 combat dead from the 2nd Brigade's two deployments to Iraq — the most recent ending in January and February — was a touchstone for families to fallen loved ones, and the unit to which they belonged.

"It's something that we can look back on without having to fly here to see it again," Christy Nunes said of the tracing. "Especially for him," she added, gesturing to her rambunctious 6-year-old son, Alexander. "He was only 18 months old when his daddy died."

Fourteen families out of the 18 names on the gray granite memorial flew in for the dedication. The unit also is known as the Stryker Brigade because of the armored vehicles it deployed with most recently.

As the nation prepares to give its thanks on Memorial Day to those who died in military service, yesterday's dedication at Schofield Barracks exemplified the quiet suffering that goes on across America six years into the Iraq war.

Brigade commander Col. Todd B. McCaffrey told the families and approximately 500 soldiers present that the 18 souls whose names are inscribed on the memorial "will forever remind each of us of service, sacrifice, courage and commitment."

The 4,300 soldiers of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team conducted more than 30,000 patrols in and around Taji, Tarmiyah and Baghdad, completed more than 170 school and hospital projects, lost about a dozen Stryker vehicles and medically evacuated about 50 wounded soldiers.

DEATH FELT BY ALL

The emotions yesterday were muted, but still very much present.

Desiree Richardson flew in from Minnesota to be there in remembrance of her brother, Spc. Gregory B. Rundell, who died when he was 21.

Rundell was killed in Taji, Iraq, on March 26, 2008. His family had said he was manning a guard tower when he was hit by sniper fire. Richardson said it was somewhat stressful to fly out to Hawai'i for the memorial dedication.

"The anxiety of meeting all the guys from his unit — it's just so hard," she said. "It brings it all back up to the surface. Every time you have one good day, you have six bad days."

Each death, meanwhile, has many reverberations.

"Greg was such an awesome person. He affected everybody he talked to, and everybody was really hurt by this," his sister said. "Back home when we had the funeral, the procession was over three miles long."

Her brother was "fun, kinda silly, but he was really good at getting the job done." The single soldier also was a talented artist who was into wolves, nature and mythology.

Six family members made the trip out to Hawai'i from Minnesota for the memorial dedication.

Staff Sgt. James Peptis, 26, boosted 6-year-old Benjamin Richardson up on his shoulders and patiently stood hunched over next to the memorial so Richardson could make a name tracing of Rundell, his uncle.

Peptis was in the same company as Rundell in Iraq.

"He was always a happy guy, a very good person. He always wanted to help people," Peptis said of Rundell. He added that the memorial get-together let not only families grieve, but also those soldiers who served alongside the fallen do the same.

VOLUNTEER-DRIVEN

The Stryker Brigade Memorial Association, a volunteer effort led by spouses, raised the money to pay for the $45,000 granite memorial and two granite benches outside the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry headquarters, as well as to pay for the families to fly in.

Over the past week, picnics and other activities have been held with the families.

"There were soldiers who donated a large amount of money to honor their fallen comrades. It was amazing," said brigade spokesman Maj. Al Hing.

The 2nd Brigade lost seven soldiers on a 2004-05 deployment, one in 2006, and 11 soldiers on a 2007-09 deployment, with one a suspected suicide.

Brad McMillan was wearing a red remembrance bracelet yesterday in honor of his brother, Spc. William L. McMillan III, of Lexington, Ky., as he has since his 22-year-old "little brother" was killed on July 8, 2008.

"Billy" McMillan, a medic, died when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle in Baghdad.

Brad McMillan said he appreciated meeting soldiers who served with his brother.

"It's very important to see who he interacted with on a daily basis, to just hear some of the stories and try to understand that part of his life that we were not intimately involved in — the stories we would have liked to hear him tell," he said.

A blessing was held yesterday, soldiers placed maile lei on the memorial for each fallen soldier, and a rifle salute was followed by taps. Two sides of the four-sided memorial column are etched with names.

The 2nd Brigade already is planning on a return deployment to Iraq. Two sides remain empty.

"We're hoping that they will stay empty," said McCaffrey, the brigade commander.