Oympian devotes page 1 to war dead

Thursday morning the front page of the newspaper where National Press Photographers Association president Tony Overman is a staff photojournalist was a dramatic departure from the publication's traditional design. The entire front page of The Olympian (WA) was made up of 48 photographs of local soldiers who have died to date in Iraq. Under the banner headline "In Memoriam," the newspaper presented the soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who "made the ultimate sacrifice in 2006-2007."

The unit is the same Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis, WA, that Overman was embedded with in Iraq. "I've covered the memorial services for at least half of those guys, maybe more, and I guess I see in their faces what other people see when you go to a memorial, or to a remembrance wall," Overman said. "In each of the pictures you see the same emotion that you feel for the person you knew."

"None of them are people that I dealt with personally, but they're the ones the soldiers are wearing memorial bracelets for. I thought it was a really powerful front page, but maybe it was that powerful for me because I was closer to it."