Warrior's Walk Is Alive With Memories

Families leave flags, flowers and mementos at a memorial site, small reminders of a life lost. But the granite plaques do not mark graves. CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reports that at Fort Stewart, Ga., the Third Infantry's dead are memorialized with something alive: trees.

"Each of these beautiful budding trees is a lasting and living symbol of your American heroes," Major Gen. Webster said at a tree dedication ceremony.

They call it Warrior's Walk — a grove of trees, one for each fallen soldier of the Third Infantry Division.

Gary Holloway, a real estate developer, is the man responsible for the poignant display.

"We wanted to do something that was meaningful for the soldiers and the sacrifices that they were giving," Holloway says. "It's a living memorial."

At the dedication in 2003, they planted 34 trees. There are now more than 300.

"...The beauty to it is it really gives the families and friends something they can remember by," Holloway says.

The 317 trees — all eastern redbuds — are bare now. But they'll bloom again in April, four years after the Third Infantry Division suffered its first casualties in Iraq.

One of them was Sgt. First Class Paul Smith, who put himself in harm's way and saved the lives of three dozen of his men. His actions were so brave they earned him the highest distinction a president can bestow upon a soldier: the Medal of Honor.

But for his widow, Birgit, and their 12-year old son, David, who now live in Florida, Warrior's Walk reminds them of when they were a family.

"This is where I feel most comfortable, because I know this is where we were together for the last time," Brigit says.

"I think the trees represent for how many soldiers that are brave and how they stuck up and did what they needed to do," David adds. He says he is really proud of his dad.

Talking about losing your dad is brave, too. But David says it's so important because he's "doing this to help out all the kids who lost a father or mother in the war."

"When I speak out and I'm on the news, they'll probably see me and that I've lost a father. Then they'll feel better because they'll see that they're not the only one who's lost somebody," David explains.

In 10 days, Warrior's Walk will add its 318th tree. Another family will make that tree uniquely theirs. And the nation will have another reminder that freedom is anything but free.