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Memory Champion Writes The Names Of 2,200 Fallen Vets

Ron White is spending the day writing the  names and rank of 2,200 soliders in Afghanistan who died on the same tour he served. He’s doing this all from memory -- more than 6,600 words in sequence.

White won the 2009 and 2010 USA Memory Championships. The Fort Worth native served in Afghanistan with the U.S. Navy in 2007. This event today, called “America’s Memory,” started at 7:45 a.m. and will last until White has written all the names on a 50-foot display wall – about 5 p.m.

KERA's Lauren Silverman reports from downtown Fort Worth.

Donations for the Wounded Warrior Project will be taken during the day. White hopes to raise $25,000 and pledges.

http://youtu.be/5tDslfs90C4

Lauren Silverman was the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She was also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine  Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.
Lyndsay Knecht is assistant producer for Think.