FORT BRAGG - When the Army's famed 82nd Airborne Division dedicated its own memorial to paratroopers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, three sides of the wide granite column were blank.

Three years later, there is no more room.

The last name belongs to Sgt. Clayton G. Dunn, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in May 2007. Since then, roughly 50 more names have been etched onto a granite wall that now stands behind the original column -- each a grim reminder that the 13-ton granite tower wasn't big enough to honor all those who have fallen and continue to fall.

"We can put on as many as we need to now," said retired Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Vickers, who served 14 years in the 82nd. "The hope is we don't ever have to put another name on it at all."

That is unlikely.

The United States has lost more than 4,000 soldiers in Iraq and 800 in Afghanistan since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, that mark the start of the global war on terrorism. The 82nd lost 62 paratroopers in 2007, more than in any other year since the wars began. Three separate incidents in Iraq last year each claimed the lives of seven or more paratroopers from the 82nd.

"The division wanted to honor these guys," Vickers said. "At this point, they've been fighting longer than we did in World War II."

The 82nd isn't the only division squeezed for memorial space. At Fort Hood, Texas, a memorial to fallen soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division will soon be out of room, said Dennis Webster, executive director of the 1st Cavalry Division Association.

Tradition usually calls for memorials to wait until the conflict has ended. The Vietnam War memorial in Washington opened in 1982, several years after the end of the war. It wasn't until 2004 that the World War II memorial opened nearby.

The 82nd's memorial stands behind the division museum at Fort Bragg and displays the words, "In memory of the Paratroopers who gave their lives in support of the Global War on Terrorism." Last year, some of the 82nd's retired sergeants major and officers raised money to build the wall once it became clear the column would soon run out of room.

The 82nd's expanded memorial will be formally unveiled this month during the division's "All American Week," which traditionally occurs the week before Memorial Day. Hundreds of veterans from the 82nd are expected to visit Fort Bragg then.

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