The U.S. military has dedicated a memorial to members of special operations forces who have been killed in the Afghanistan war.

The marble stone memorial is etched with the names of 96 servicemembers killed in the war during the past seven years, officials said. The list begins with Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, who had been assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Petithory was killed Dec. 5, 2001.

It was actually the second dedication of the memorial, which was moved from its previous location to the new headquarters for Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan at Camp Vance, Bagram.

"Today, once more, we set in stone the anchor which honors our past, and sets a standard of excellence for the future," Col. Gus Benton II, the task force commander, was quoted as saying in a news release.

"These soldiers to whom we pay special homage are much more than names on a wall or gravestone. They are symbols of our march toward a time when the world order will stand for justice, democracy and economic freedom."

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