HCSO Honors Fallen War Heroes On Its Homepage

Posted Apr 18, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Apr 18, 2012 at 10:46 PM

A week or so ago, I was talking to Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee about plans to create a veterans court in the county.

Somehow, the topic strayed a bit to the issue of memorializing those who die serving their country.

Every week since I started my blog, and every week since I started my column, I have mentioned each man and woman who died, mostly in combat, but also in accidents and other unexplained ways, which can mean suicide and illness, among others.

The names are listed in the last part of my column and Gee thought that it would be a better idea to see the names on the front page.

Wednesday afternoon, Gee announced that he was taking matters into his own hands.

“I was tired of not seeing these men and women not covered on the front pages,” Gee said. “To see their names on the back page turns my stomach.”

So, after more than 10 years of war and more than 6,400 men and women killed in action, Gee had his staff create a permanent memorial on its website to honor the fallen, with links to a current, scrolling list of war dead from around the country. The list also has archived data dating to 2002, and a link to a special page dedicated to those with connections to Hillsborough County.

Gee said the HCSO website has been getting increasing traffic and figured this would be a good way to capitalize on that.

“Our YouTube videos have gotten a million hits,” he said. “This is a way we can do our small part to get the message out about those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

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