BLACKFOOT — More than 100 people with ties to Bingham County have died or gone missing while serving their country and protecting its freedoms over the years.

That why officials there are planning a special ceremony on July 4 to honor those individuals and ensure that their names and their sacrifices are never forgotten.

The Names of the Fallen Unveiling Ceremony will take place at Bingham County’s Patriot Field Veterans Memorial, 355 N. Ash in Blackfoot, at 10:30 a.m. July 4.

Paul Loomis, a volunteer for the Bingham County Patriot Field Memorial and a veteran himself, says they will officially be unveiling a wall bearing the names of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during their service.

“It recognizes the tremendous sacrifice of those that have protected our freedom and allowed us to live in this country. They’re deserving of such recognition,” Loomis said.

In addition, he says the wall will help link new generations to the past.

“I hope second-graders will come there as a class, and that it passes on the importance of keeping our freedoms to the next generation — for many generations to come,” Loomis said.

Wednesday’s event will include music, a dedicatory prayer and a 21-gun salute. Local author Stewart Portela, who has written multiple books about American veterans and the wars they fought, will also speak at the event.

Loomis expects the ceremony to be brief, but touching.

“It will be very good,” he said. “Anyone who is a veteran or who loves a veteran ought to attend this.”

Many people have worked together to create the tribute to veterans in recent years.

In 2016, Patriot Field was created with non-tax Bingham County funds and Blackfoot Urban Renewal Association funds, according to www.patriotfieldmemorial.com. The completion of the wall marks another milestone in the project.

Bingham County Clerk Pam Eckhardt said it has taken a lot of work to get to this point. They hired Martha Overdorf part time to focus on the work. And she’s spent months gathering names and other details about the veterans — their rank, the military branch they served in and the length of their service — through military discharge books and other records, Internet searches, submitted information and discussions with individuals.

“It’s been quite a process,” Eckhardt said.

While the wall only lists those who died while serving, Eckhardt said they’ve named approximately 7,800 veterans connected to Bingham County on the Patriot Field website.

“We didn’t know the depth we were getting into when we started the project,” she said, adding that they began with the approximately 300 names of veterans listed at the courthouse and expected to gather only a few hundred more.

But they’ve since found thousands and the list keeps growing.

The Patriot Field website states that the project began after “it was brought to our attention that Bingham County didn’t have a fitting tribute to our veterans, who have sacrificed so much on our behalf.”

With the names of thousands of veterans now connected to the county, it seems such a tribute was well warranted.

Although the unveiling of the wall marks another milestone in the project, the memorial isn’t completed yet. Officials are still raising funds to build the centerpiece, a 7-foot bronze statue of a World War II military officer handing a folded American flag to two children.

Pingree native Ben Hammond is sculpting the piece at a significantly reduced cost, Loomis said.

Officials have $95,000 to put toward the project — thanks to generous donations from corporate sponsors and individuals — but they need approximately $25,000 more to complete and install it.

Anyone who would like to contribute to the memorial can do so at www.patriotfieldmemorial.com.

In the meantime, officials are encouraging the public to attend Wednesday’s unveiling ceremony among the other July 4 festivities.

“(During a) wonderful day of celebration, it’s great opportunity to take a few moments and reflect,” Loomis said.