Live Oak Park was alive with memoriam

Letter to editor             -May 30, 2006

Memorial Day is past, but not over in my mind.  I didn’t think about these things in my younger years, but the closer I get to the end of my life, the more I ponder what wars will be like in the future.  We continue to devise ever more insidious and destructive weapons systems and dehumanizing tactics against enemies who are indistinguishable from civilians, following a path of perpetual war based on ever-evolving rationalizations.

Veterans for Peace came to Fallbrook’s Live Oak Park on Memorial Day.  Hundreds of visitors came to share in honoring the sacrifice of the 2,468 Americans who had been killed in action in Iraq.  Seeing so many Crosses, Stars of David, and Crescents across the undulating hills had its effect:  a clear vision of the enormity of the human cost of war.  Every one of these markers represented a sacred life gone from this planet, leaving dusty remains and painful memories on Earth.  They are all strangers to us, until we meet their families and those who knew and loved them.  Memories live.  It is Memorial Day every day for their families and loved ones.  And these soldiers, old and young will never die:  they will just fade away with the ultimate healer, Time.

The spiritual inter-faith ceremony conducted by Faith Leaders for Peace was especially touching.  Each faith deals with such deaths with different brush strokes, but together they painted a more poignant picture.  Catholic, Christian Protestants, Jewish, Islamic, Vedic, and Unitarian clergy, fifteen in all, each invoked God and his people to honor all these lives, and blessings upon their families.  Some sang, one played the guitar, one cried, one made a desperate plea. Local Fallbrook clergy were also in the audience, to bring their heavy hearts and message of compassion. 

Spending the whole eight hours at the Live Oak Park gifted me with the greatest  reward of the day,  contact with the San Diego Veterans for Peace, to understand why they do this.  These are former warriors from many wars, some in their late seventies, one from the present Iraq War.  These are men and women who have learned the wisdom of peace, and the folly of war.  They came to increase public awareness of the costs of war.  They succeeded ever so powerfully.

I am grateful to the Fallbrook Democratic Club for extending their invitation to the Veterans for Peace and the Faith Leaders for Peace to honor the fallen troops on this Memorial Day.  I hope they come back.

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Report: North County Times – 5/30/06

Fallbrook

Members of San Diego Veterans for Peace spent more than four hours painstakingly placing 2,468 small white crosses, Stars of David and crescents in long, neat rows in a corner of Fallbrook's Live Oak Park.

Accompanied by small American flags, the wooden markers bore the names, ages, military branches and dates of death of every service member killed in the Iraq war since it started in March 2003.

The display, called Arlington West Memorial, remained in place for visitors to wander through throughout the day.

At 11 a.m., about 75 people gathered next to the memorial for a somber, hour-long service that honored fallen service members and emphasized the need for peace.

Speakers representing six different faiths told those present that the markers they saw Monday represented just a fraction of the human beings who have been affected by the war.

Participants also took turns reading the name of every person honored in the memorial.

Veterans for Peace President Dave Patterson said such gestures were important because they help underscore the full impact of the war.

"If you read the paper ---- and a lot of people don't ---- you'll see that two or three people were killed this day, and two or three were killed that day," he said. "It just doesn't click. And every death impacts the families and everyone around them."