Around 9,000 combat boots now line Luke Field in Hawaii, each one standing for a service member killed since 9/11 — a somber tribute ahead of this weekend's memorial run.

• The display sits next to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, with every boot marked by name, face, branch, and the year that person died.
• The Boot Memorial Foundation started in 2012 with 3,000 boots after Terresa Johnson lost her children's friend, Tim Vimoto, in combat; the count has since grown past 6,000.
• Combat deaths peaked in 2007 at more than 1,000 a year and fell below 100 by 2013.
• September is National Suicide Awareness Month, and organizers point to veterans whose mental health quietly erodes long after they come home.
• Families searching the rows often break down when they finally find their person's boot — proof the name is not forgotten.

Outlook: The boots stay on display around the clock until the morning of September 12, with the Hero and Remembers Run kicking off at Ford Island tomorrow.