On September 11th, 2001, the United States suffered a series of coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by nineteen members of Al-Queda.

On September 12th, 2002, President Bush made his case for an invasion of Iraq in his address to the UN Security Council.

On March 17th, 2003, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to surrender and leave Iraq - the invasion of Iraq began on March 20th, 2003.

“America will never run… And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders.”
– George W. Bush

In the fight against evil and oppression, many of America’s sons and daughters gave their lives that others may live free.

With civilian cars banned from roads for security, hundreds of residents of the Al Monsour district of Baghdad walked to the polls.

Hundreds lined up outside polls in Baghdad.

There was a 58% turnout on election day with some 8.4 million votes cast.

Each person dipped their finger in purple ink to indicate they had voted.

In order for the enslaved to gain freedom, free men must give their lives willingly.

Operation Freedom Ballot honors our Fallen by preserving the historical first vote in Iraq. We provide families of service members killed in Iraq an official ballot, which was created for the first democratic election in the nation's history.

One Gold Star Father expresses his thoughts after receiving an official ballot:

“That ballot is the essence of what it is all about. All of those purple fingers meant that my son, and all of the other fallen, did not die in vain. There is no way that I can even come close to expressing my gratitude.”