3 years since Fort Hood shooting

KILLEEN, Texas (KXAN) - Three years ago on Nov. 5, the US. was shocked when one of the largest military installation in the world fell under attack by one of its own.

Thirteen people were killed and 32 injured after Major Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire at Fort Hood.

Hasan's trial for the killings was set to begin in August, but has been delayed time and again while his attorneys and the military court deal with the issue of Hasan having grown a beard while he's been jailed and his refusal to shave it off. Military rules do not allow beards.

"[I remember] the news coming on and I remember being very upset and my kids calling everybody to find out where dad was, " said Joleen Cahill, whose husband was killed in the shooting.

Cahill's husband, Michael Cahill, worked at Fort Hood as a doctor's assistant. When his wife heard about the shooting, everything went dark, she said.

"I ended up in the emergency room and I got home and I blanked out again," Joleen Cahill said.

Her husband had served 22 years in the National Guard before helping heal soldiers as a civilian.

"He really cared about them and had their best interest(s) at heart," she explained.

While the shooting is no longer the center of national attention, families of the victims always remember what was lost that day. That's why a Salado artist is working on a project no one will forget.

Troy Kelley was chosen to help build the "Nov. 5, 2009 Memorial."

He wants every visitor to get a feel of who each victim was, so he asked the families to send him objects that would best describe their loved ones.

"I really felt strongly that these private objects told a lot about the individuals," Kelley said.

The memorial pavilion is set to be built near the Killeen Convention Center, with the story of what happened that fateful November day etched in stone.

The Fort Hood Memorial has raised $100,000 to build the memorial but lacks an additional $350,000 to complete it.

Anyone wishing to donate to the project can do so at Join Hands America.