COLUMBUS, Ga. - The names of the 13 people killed in the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, do not appear on the Army's Global War on Terrorism Memorial at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, according to a report published Nov. 5, 2026, by Army Times. The memorial and its online database also leave off the victims, and so does the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the Defense Department database the museum says it uses as its source. The report appeared on the 17th anniversary of the attack, and it raises a question many Columbus-area visitors may not know about: how the names on the memorial are chosen.

Twelve soldiers and a civilian physician assistant died and 32 people were injured in the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, according to Army Times. Maj. Nidal Hasan was the shooter. The victims received Purple Hearts in 2015, but many are missing from major post-9/11 casualty records, the report said.

What Army Times reported

The Department of Defense referred questions to the Army, which did not respond to the reporter, according to Army Times. The museum says it takes its names from the Defense Department and the Defense Casualty Analysis System. That means the memorial in Columbus reflects the federal database rather than a separate list the museum compiles.

Retired Col. Kathy Platoni, who treated victims, told Army Times the shooting is still classified as workplace violence despite a 2015 defense authorization for the Purple Hearts. She wants it formally classified as domestic terrorism and wants line-of-duty benefits for 2009 to 2015. Sheryll Pearson, the mother of Pfc. Michael Pearson, who was 22 when he died, said, "These names should be everywhere," according to the report.

The victims are remembered elsewhere, Army Times reported. The Fort Hood November 5 Memorial in Killeen, Texas, honors the dead and wounded. The Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial in Marseilles, Illinois, lists the Fort Hood dead, and its vice president, Carla McPhee, said the names were added because "the enemy and the sacrifice are the same."

How the Columbus memorial works

The Global War on Terrorism Memorial was dedicated at the National Infantry Museum on Oct. 16, 2017, according to the museum. Its black granite panels carried 7,048 names on a list the museum's website showed as current to Sept. 6, 2025. The museum says the list includes service members who died in the Global War on Terrorism theater regardless of cause, plus those who later die of wounds sustained there.

New names are added once a year, and the memorial is rededicated each year, according to the museum. The first rededication was held Sept. 8, 2018, and Army.mil reported then that the ceremony was set for the Saturday after Labor Day each year. Twenty-eight names had been added between the 2017 dedication and that first rededication.

What the memorial looks like

The memorial includes granite name panels, narrative panels that explain the conflict, and murals with artwork from each military service, according to the museum. A 13-foot steel beam from World Trade Center Tower 1, presented to Fort Benning by New York City firefighters, is part of the design. A five-sided central platform honors those killed at the Pentagon.

A bronze figure of Spc. Ross McGinnis stands atop the platform, representing the leader of a nine-person infantry team, and eight other squad members flank him, according to the museum. Visitors can search the names on the museum's website by entering a name. Results show the name, rank, branch, date of death, operation, and the panel and row where it is inscribed.

Visiting and reporting a missing name

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to its website. Admission is free with a $5 suggested donation per person, and the phone number is 706-685-5800. The National Infantry Museum opened in June 2009 on 190,000 square feet next to Fort Benning, according to Wikipedia.

The museum's page says anyone who wants to report a missing or misspelled name can contact the Defense Manpower Data Center's DEERS Support Office at 800-538-9552. The museum's page does not describe a process for adding names outside the Defense Department database, and the sources reviewed did not say whether any change is planned. Army Times reported that a separate national Global War on Terrorism Memorial is planned near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, and a person familiar with the discussions said the current design does not include names, though nothing is final.