Woodstock is about to become one of less than a handful of Canadian communities to erect a memorial specifically for veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

It will be located at the Woodstock Cenotaph, 413 Bulller St., and dedicated on April 11th at 11 a.m.

A crowd of hundreds is expected to attend, but the memorial began as a simple idea among friends.

Kevin DeClark and Jeremy MacKnott respect the names of all Canadians who died at war, but one name stands out.

Pte. Tyler Todd went to school in Woodstock and was one of 158 Canadians who lost their lives in Afghanistan.

Memories of his departure - and return - to Canada, will forever be fresh in the minds of these two young men.

DeClark, a veteran of Afghanistan himself, says, "He was well-known by a lot of my friends. And he was the only casualty in the Afghanistan war in Oxford County."

So the pair decided something had to be done to remember Todd.

Their plan grew to a full-scale memorial for all Afghanistan veterans and is currently being created at Thames Memorial in Woodstock.

It features a large base and pedestal along with a plaque bearing the visual of a soldier and an inscription.

The idea for the memorial came from the annual Evening of Honour event, which will be held again May 16, and has raised the profile of Afghanistan veterans in Oxford County.

Funds raised from the first-annual event in 2014 helped to commission the memorial and the City of Woodstock has already created the base for it to be installed alongside the marker to previous wars.

Both men hope other Canadian communities will see their effort and follow the example.

"It's the longest war that we've had. It's our age war. It's well overdue. These guys need to have a place to mourn," MacKnott explains.

And that has been an unexpected outcome of the memorial project, a place connecting veterans in Oxford County for support and to see the the gratitude of the community.

DeClark says, "We had lost a lot of guys on my tour, and every time you hear the bagpipes now during Remembrance Day, it touches you to the core."