The names and photographs of 500 Americans who have died in the Iraq war will be broadcast on a special edition of ABC News Nightline on Friday.

The program, which ABC News describes as  a "tribute," will be simulcast live on its Jumbotron in New York City's Times Square.   

" Nightline will show a photograph of each serviceman and woman in succession with their name, military branch, rank, and age, while (Nightline anchor Ted) Koppel reads their names aloud. Since the broadcast is only 30 minutes long, Friday's broadcast is limited to showing just those "killed in action" in Iraq, as certified by the US Department of Defense," said a ABC news press release.  

The program was the idea of  Nightline's  Executive Producer Leroy Sievers, who said in an interview to poynter.org that 'there is no political statement intended. This broadcast is intended to honor those who have been killed, period.'

'I hope that viewers will remember that behind the numbers of casualties, that each of the men and women who have been killed was an individual, with a name, a face, a family, and a life. It is too easy to not go beyond the numbers. Ted and I were embedded with the 3rd I.D. and we got to know many of the soldiers as individuals. It is too easy to see the helmet, the flak vest, and the uniform, and forget that these are all individuals,' he said.