forces are in the early stages of military operations.

(explosion booming) - [Pamela] It began as shock and awe.

U.S. troops invading Iraq in March of 2003.

A prolonged conflict.

- [Soldier] Fire!

(missile pops) - [Pamela] 4,000 U.S. service members died.

Ty Smith survived his tour of duty in Iraq yet is still recovering from the trauma.

- I joined the military right after high school, so all I knew was kind of that lifestyle, culminating on a 16-month deployment.

That was pretty intense.

Operation Stand Down, Ty speaking.

- [Pamela] Smith is director of Veteran Services at Operation Stand Down Rhode Island, an organization assisting vets with food, housing, and other support.

Smith was part of a combat team of Calvary Scouts, where he witnessed the unspeakable horrors of war.

- Stories of your friends not coming home, somebody you know not coming home who you saw yesterday.

Seeing dead bodies, seeing dead children.

- The cacophony of just madness and sound and wind.

- [Pamela] Smith's real-life drama of service and sacrifice is one of the main threads woven into an original play produced by Trinity Rep Theater in Providence.

It's called "Someone Will Remember Us," inspired by the stories of local military members.

- So I enlisted to the Army right after high school.

- Actor Dereks Thomas portrays Smith.

The last we saw Thomas, he was playing Fezziwig in this season's Trinity production of "A Christmas Carol."

He's accustomed to playing fictional characters.

What is it like to actually portray somebody in real life?

- It's challenging, and the challenges is trying to wrestle with the text and find the humanity in it and deliver it authentically.

I really got used to embracing lacing up my boots, I slowed down because I just felt like I'm gonna die today.

I know we're always performing and acting, but there's an element that you have to get to the truth.

- [Pamela] Thomas says the play unearths common ground for Rhode Island soldiers, resettled refugees, and even the audience.

- There's some fear in it, there's also some humor when you're showing up and you're like, "How the hell did I get here?"

You know.

You know, there's these little seeds of universal understanding.

- A lot of veterans I know don't talk about their war experience.

You have been out there telling your story and now sharing it.

Why did you do that?

- Well, it's been a long journey.

Whether you're a veteran or a civilian, we're all in these moments of transition.

And for me, it took many years to get to this point where I could talk about an experience, I can share that with relative strangers, share it with my own family.

When I first got back from Iraq, I knew that there was something that I was working through that I couldn't do by myself, that I needed not only the community, but I needed a little bit of education, I needed to go to school, and I really needed to work on this process of who am I outside of being a soldier.

- [Pamela] Smith says many veterans do want to share their wartime memories.

- If you listen, they'll tell their stories, if you give 'em time to explain.

- Smith and other veterans began talking about their experiences with this woman, playwright Deborah Salem Smith of Barrington.

She had previously written the play "Boots On The Ground" for Trinity Rep early on during the war in Iraq, also based on the testimonies of Rhode Island soldiers.

This time, her mission with her co-creators was hours-long interviews with Iraqis who had to flee their country and returning veterans.

Why did you want to write the second act of a war story?

- It had been on my mind off and on.

You know, it's a small state, so I would sometimes still run into people I interviewed for the first "Boots On The Ground."

And the war had continued to really impact people.

And there was just a lot of unexpected hope and perseverance and thoughtfulness.

We could do this project again in 10 years, and we'd still be seeing the ripple effect.

I think how it changed, you know, people are still moving, people are still trying to rebuild their lives.

- [Pamela] People like Kamal Elias, a refugee in Rhode Island.

- I was a teacher in Iraq, and I worked as a volunteer interpreter with the troops, with the American U.S. forces.

And I was at the hospital, so for a while, helping them and helping patients.

- What was the tipping point for you to escape?

- Nobody's safe, and especially I'm from minority, or from a different religion.

So it's no longer a minority, a different religion, And we were targeted by radicals.

Let's say ISIS, you know, Al-Qaeda, ISIS.

They were attacking whoever disagrees with them, whoever was not as supportive for them.

- [Pamela] Actor Jade Ziane plays Elias in "Someone Will Remember Us."

- They kill people.

We flee to the mountain for our life, I take nothing but my phone and the clothes that I wear and my master degree thesis about love.

- [Pamela] Elias says he was able to rescue this one copy of his thesis on the love poetry of the ancient Greek writer Sappho, and it holds great meaning for him.

- I thought that we need to talk about love in the time of war.

- [Pamela] And it is from Sappho's verses that the play takes its title.

Presently, Elias is teaching English to immigrants at Dorcas International Institute in Providence.

Elias says being an educator is the role he truly cherishes.

- I want to let the world know what we have been through.

and I want to know everyone here, we are not just here.

Like, we work, we do everything.

- [Pamela] And Elias says he is glad to add his story to the history of America, especially in the form of theater.

- Arts, acting, even plays, videos, movies is a language by itself but language that has no borders, that stops at no point, is a train of messages that visit everyone.

- It's the resilience of human spirit and the will to make something of yourself.

It can never be squashed as long as you have the heart for it, and I think that Kamal's story is a perfect example of that.

♪ Lets get loud ♪ ♪ Ain't nobody gotta tell ya what you gotta do ♪ - [Pamela] While the play does incorporate some comedy, the tragedy is inescapable.

Ty Smith says when his Iraqi interpreter who had been his close companion was assassinated by terrorists, he showed no emotion until he went home months later.

Here is the scene.

- Yeah, I got back from the airport, m-my wife had dinner.

I mean, how does this world experience, to go from, like, sharing a bedroom with four other dudes, and it's this nice little apartment.

And here's dinner.

And here's someone who loves me at this table.

And she was like- - [Wife] How was it?

- And I just immediately started crying.

- Really having that moment with my young son at the time and my wife.

How am I gonna integrate?

Who am I now?

How do they see me, and how do I see them?

All right.

- [Pamela] Smith says he is still dealing with the loss.

He has gone on to earn a degree from Brown University and relishes working with local veterans.

His actor alter ego says Smith's journey is something everyone can ponder after the curtain comes down.

- Ordinary people can go through these harrowing, extraordinary events and still come out resilient on the other side.

And from experiencing that journey, there's a little seed of faith and hope and resilience that maybe we can all take away.

- [Pamela] Smith says it's a conversation that's lacking in the community, but he believes this play may serve as an icebreaker.

- We are quick to go, "Happy Veterans Day," "Happy Memorial Day," "Thank you for your service."

Well, we don't really push past that conversation.

And when we do, we figure out better ways to work together, because if you're not heard and seen, you're forgotten.