Iowa State’s ROTC members gathered in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union on Friday with the friends and family of 1st Lt. David L. Giaimo and Pfc. Eric P. Woods in a solemn ceremony commemorating lives lost.

The two soldiers, who were former ISU students, were immortalized with a Gold Star, which honors ISU men and women who offered their lives for human liberty and free government during world wars. Both soldiers were killed in Iraq in the summer of 2005.

“We are here today with two of our own. Both David and Eric came to ISU to test their ideas and build skills,” said Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs. “We know by their actions, they had discovered what was important in their lives. We will remember them always.”

Giaimo graduated from the College of Business with a major in finance in 2003.

He was a member of the ISU Army ROTC program and touched the lives of many in his time at Iowa State.

“He could diffuse a stressful situation with his sense of humor. There were times [in ROTC training] where I wanted to quit – and I could have quit, but he convinced me to finish and we finished together,” said Lt. Miranda Porter, who knew Giaimo through ROTC.

“He was a great friend to me – one I thought I would have forever.” Giamio was killed when his Humvee hit a land mine in Tikrit, Iraq. He was 24 years old.

“David did not die in vain. He was a leader,” said Lt. Col. Lawrence Braue, ISU ROTC professor of military science. “He knew he was going to face danger, and he was proud – he wanted to serve his country. All the freedoms we have are because of people like David.”

The names of the two men will be engraved in the limestone of the Gold Star Hall when the current conflict overseas has ended.

Woods attended Iowa State from 1997 to 1999, and was a combat medic in Iraq.

“We would joke about our inability to risk anything on the poker table, but our ability to risk everything on the field for each other,” said Sgt. Bryan Lofton, who served in Iraq with Woods.

Sgt. Jeremy Wolfsteller credits Woods with his life.

“I was shot from behind. With bullets flying past us in all directions, Eric helped to carry me over 100 feet to safety, using his own firearm twice. Eric did not think of himself in harm’s way, but of my life and his duty,” said Wolfsteller of the day he said he prefers to keep silent.

Woods was killed in Iraq when his ambulance struck an improvised explosive device that overturned the vehicle en route to evacuate a wounded soldier.

He was 26 years old.

The honoring of the two soldiers ended with the unveiling of the Gold Star, which graces their names and the inscription, Global War on Terrorism.

Woods’ young son, Eric Scott, placed his small hands on the star as family members proudly looked on.

When the ISU Memorial Union opened in 1928, the names of 117 former students who died during World War I were carved into the walls. Since that time, hundreds more from World War II, Vietnam, the Korean War and the present war on terror have been added to Gold Star Hall, which remains an active memorial.