Poto leifi freedoms on me

Remembering the dead by carving their names on a cold, stone wall seemed too impersonal to U.S.

Army Cpl. Poto Leifi.

Leifi, a California commercial artist-turned soldier, thought the U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq should be remembered full of life — and in a way that celebrated their patriotism.

After years of trial and error, Leifi makes posters in a vintage style that recalls the “Rosie the Riveter” and “Uncle Sam Wants You!” recruiting posters of World War II.

He calls his project “Freedom’s on Me” — a patriotic twist on “Drinks are on me.”

One of his first posters commemorated Marine Cpl.

Mick Bekowsky, a 21-year-old from Concord, California, killed by a car bomb Sept. 6, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq.

Bekowsky, who liked to race cars, hunt and fish, is shown bare-chested, beaming toward the sky, arm around a woman in a vintage bathing suit.

The poster dubs him “American Hero.”

Leifi, a stocky man with