Twenty-nine pairs of boots, representing the 29 Rhode Islanders lost in the Global War on Terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, were on display last Friday and Saturday outside Warwick City Hall.

The event served as a prelude to the Boots on the Ground for Heroes Memorial, which will be staged Memorial Day Weekend at Fort Adams by Operation Stand Down RI. A total of 7,010 pairs of boots – each with an American flag along with a photo of the deceased, their name and how they died – will be on display at that time.

Marine Lance Cpl. Holly A. Charette of Cranston, who died June 23, 2005, when a vehicle-borne explosive device detonated near her convoy while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Fallujah – is among those honored in the Warwick display, with the boots pictured above.

At left, Operation Stand Down director Erik Wallin and Jessica Miller, who oversees the display, gather beside the actual boots that belonged to Army Capt. Matthew August of North Kingstown, who was killed Jan. 27, 2004, in an improvised explosive devise attack in Khalidivah, Iraqi serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Capt. August was a graduate of Hendicken High School. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard August, gave the boots to Operation Stand Down.