The names are written on individual plywood markers, each about 2 1 /2-by-16 inches, and stuck into the grass – lining paths on the campus lawn like dominoes. The memorial, organized by Campus Action, will stand until Thursday night.

A student representing Campus Action said the memorial was meant to give a scale to the “intangible” number of deaths. Ian Kennedy said he felt the scale while helping to cut sheets of plywood into the individual markers.

“A number, 1,623, it's a figure, it's four digits,” Kennedy said. “When you cut up all the stakes it makes it more real.” Each name is accompanied by a number, the age of the soldier at death. Most of the names are male, and most of the men were in their 20s and 30s: Keith Taylor, 25; James Swain, 20; DeForest Talbert, 22.

But occasionally, the name is that of a woman – Linda Ann Tarango Griess, 33. Or a teenager – Christopher Dixon, 18. Or someone just a few years older than average – Michael Ottoni, 45.

Campus Action hoped its statement would be limited to the fallen soldiers, and did not want the memorial to be seen as a statement about the war itself, Kennedy said.

“Personally the war represents a lot of things to me,” Kennedy said. “But I don't want what I think to affect what anyone sees in the display.”

The group downloaded the names of the dead soldiers from a Web site – www.fallenheroesmemorial.com – which in turn got the names from the Department of Defense. By Monday, the number of soldiers on the list had increased by one to 1,623.

On the Web site, each name is followed by a short biography describing where the soldier was from and how he or she died. While writing the names on the markers, Kennedy said the students occasionally read the two or three-sentence biography aloud. He couldn't remember any particular details.

Kennedy, a sophomore from Woodstock, Vt., does not know anyone personally who has died in the war. He said cutting the markers helped him fathom how many soldiers have died, but he knows there is far more to the story than 1,622 soldiers.

“As I was cutting the wood – I'm just trying to go as fast as I can cutting the wood – each stake is a life, and a family that was directly hurt and harmed by their loss,” Kennedy said. “It was one of the more emotional, and one of the times I really realized, 'Oh my gosh it's a lot.' ”

Campus Action planned the memorial earlier this year, but was delayed by the winter-hardened ground and on-campus events that took place on the green. Kennedy said there is little symbolism in the timing of the memorial.

“We know Memorial Day weekend was right around the corner. But this was just a good time for it,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said that in one way, the memorial is incomplete: The names do not include those of Iraqis killed. But he said no number of names will do justice to the loss.

“Writing the names out can't really reflect what this war means to a lot of people,” Kennedy said. “Unless you're directly involved you're never going to be able to fully understand what it means.”