Lockheed dedicates memorial for fallen contractors

The company opens memorial for employees killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as the death toll reaches nearly 2,700.

Last week, Lockheed Martin Corp. unveiled a memorial to five employees who have died while working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The idea for the memorial came from a Lockheed employee, the Washington Post reported.

L-3 Communications has the highest number of contractor casualties with 374, the Post’s Marjorie Censer reported. Most of those were part of the business spun out as Engility in July.

Contractor deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan number 2,694 through the first quarter of 2012, the newspaper reported, quoting research by Steven Schooner, a George Washington University law professor and co-director of GWU law school’s government procurement law program.