A high school student from Illinois just used her prom dress to pay tribute to 25 fallen U.S. Marines in a truly beautiful way.

Aubrey Headon, a student at Rochelle Township High School, designed the dress herself and made it so that it resembles an American flag. The dress includes streams of red and white ribbons that flow down a blue skirt and a matching halter neck with stars embellished on it. In addition, the streamers display the names of 25 Marines who were killed in the line of duty.

The soldiers memorialized on the dress were all members of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, who died between September 2010 and April 2011 while conducting operations in the Sangin District of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. This battalion suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the last ten years of war.

After hearing about these Marines from Gretchen Catherwood, the mother of one of the fallen servicemen, Aubrey was inspired to pay tribute to them with her prom dress.

“She started the Darkhorse Lodge to help combat veterans. I do a fundraiser every year to donate to the lodge,” Aubrey said of Gretchen.

“I wanted to wear this tribute dress [to] my senior prom so the memories of the guys who fell in Afghanistan for our right to live how we do and do what we do every day is carried on,” Aubrey continued. “Their lives … and their memories need to carry on so that they don’t fade into nothing.”

Aubrey’s dress has quickly gone viral, and she’s getting an enormous amount of positive feedback on it.

“The biggest response has been from Gold Star families, thanking me for remembering their loved ones,” she said.

God bless this young woman for choosing to use her prom dress to honor a group of Marines who died for the rest of our freedom. Find out more about this in the video below.