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Event Description

Special outdoor exhibit, 'Eyes of Freedom,' a traveling memorial dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of all who answer our nation’s call will be on display at Spiegel Grove, the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. Access to the exhibit is free.

The exhibit is comprised of nine panels and the Silent Battle bronze sculpture. During spring 2005, “L”-Co. or Lima Company was deployed to Iraq. Twenty-two Marines and one Navy Corpsman were killed in action between May and August of that year. The news of their losses prompted spontaneous expressions of compassion for the families of the fallen and the surviving Marines.

Anita Miller, a Columbus artist who had no prior connection to the Marines describes her experience…“I awoke in the middle of the night with a start and hovering in front of me I saw life-sized paintings, displayed in a circle. People were milling around them leaving messages of love in the boots at the base of the portraits.

Suddenly, the people disappeared, and a small crew of workers came in and dismantled the paintings as if they were moving it to a new location. I knew it was a traveling tribute to the fallen of Lima Company and I felt somehow, I was being asked to create it.” Two and a half years later, after meeting and working with the families of the fallen, The Lima Company Memorial was unveiled in the Ohio Statehouse and was displayed before it began touring the country. To date, this exhibition has been displayed in 34 states and more than 360 events.

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