U.S. Deaths in Iraq Mark Increased Presence

Hartman was killed by a suicide car bomber Sept. 14, near her work site in a power plant in Baghdad. "She would have been back in Texas on Nov. 10," her mother said. "She would have been home for Christmas."

The oldest of three children, Hartman enlisted while she was in high school, drawn to the promise of college tuition benefits and aware that her family, with two daughters and a son, could not afford so much higher education.

Her mother, Bernice Hartman, said the Army recruiter promised them that she would not be sent to Iraq, saying the Army " 'would take someone off the street before they take your daughter.' " Bernice Hartman said the words had haunted them.

"We would have never signed," she said, her voice breaking.

Since Jennifer Hartman's death, her father has been unable to sleep. Bernice Hartman has so many questions, about how it happened, about the two soldiers who died with her. "It just seems like everything you want to know, they can't tell you," she said.

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At the museum, Ron Bingham, who works with the collections, describes the memorial as an evolving tribute. It started with only the wall of names in 2004. When the interactive display of photographs and stories was added in 2005, it became much more, and now it expands all the time as more photographs and life details are gathered and as the toll of war grows.

Visitors often linger at the display. Sometimes they talk about the soldiers' lives. Sometimes they leave in tears.

"Every woman from a private to a general has an important story to tell," Bingham said. "The idea is to get as much information as possible to preserve their stories for future generations."

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.