Sandy Hannah touches the photo of a man she knows who died while serving our country. ALWAYS LOST: A Meditation on War has previously been on display on the second floor of the Legislative Building in Carson City.

Western Nevada College is pleased to announce that Always Lost: A Meditation on War is once again on display thanks to collaboration between WNC and the Veterans Resource Center at Truckee Meadows Community College and VFW Post 2313 in Hawthorne.
This is the first time the exhibition has been available to the public since 2016. Always Lost: A Meditation on War is dedicated to U.S. military service members in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who gave their lives and to those who made it home.
The public can view the exhibition at TMCC between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Main Gallery in the Red Mountain Building (Room 107). The exhibition also can be viewed at the VFW Post 2313 Hall located at 890 A St. The hall is open from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information or to make an appointment in Hawthorne, call 775-233-3801.
The exhibition, which began as a creative writing class project at WNCs Carson City campus in 2009, had been previously displayed at more than 50 venues across the nation.
In fall 2008, two WNC professors decried the impersonal nature of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Professors Don Carlson and Marilee Swirczek envisioned a photography and literary exhibition to personalize the wars. It included original literary work by students, veterans and their families, and other Nevada writers. The project also included the Wall of the Dead, individual photographs with names of U.S. military service members who perished in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from Sept. 11, 2001-14.
The Dallas Morning News granted permission to use their 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning Iraq War combat photographs as part of the exhibition. Photographs and profiles of three WNC student veterans remind us of the thousands of service members returning home from war, and original poetry by Army SPC Noah C. Pierce, who died by suicide after serving two tours in Iraq, shines a light on the epidemic of veteran suicide.
Throughout the years, the Wall of the Dead continued to grow. When Always Lost made its debut, there were approximately 4,000 faces and names on the Wall. Today, there are nearly 7,000.
During its seven years of travel, Always Lost was displayed at colleges, universities, libraries, veterans organizations and community centers across the nation. The Minnesota Humanities Center sponsored an 18-month statewide tour of the exhibit as part of their Veterans Voices program, and a second copy of the exhibition traveled across Nevada as an official NV150 Sesquicentennial exhibit on a tour sponsored by the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.
Always Lost: A Meditation on War from 2008-16 had been funded and maintained through grants from the Nevada Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, and Nevada Humanities, along with generous donations from organizations and individuals. This support made the traveling exhibition possible.