Crosses

Arlington West Memorial Project in Santa Monica, a Great Success!

Frank Dorrel

The Arlington West Memorial Project was presented for the first time in Santa Monica, last Sunday, February 15th at the Santa Monica pier. 540 crosses were set up in the sand, directly north of the pier, right next to the boardwalk, and were highly visible to the thousands of people who came out for a day at the beach. Each cross represents an American soldier who has died in Iraq. The names, ages, hometowns and circumstances of their deaths were there for all to read on a plaque that was placed in front of this memorial. Another sign indicated that it would take the entire beach in order to recognize all of the Iraqis who have been killed in this war. All day long, thousands of beachgoers stopped to witness, read the names, contemplate and talk about this sad reality. Over 350 of them took the time to write a sign with the name of one of the soldiers on it and placed it, along with a flower, on a cross. Some were seen tearing up and crying. Several were currently in the military, having recently returned from Iraq, or will be heading there soon.

This memorial was put on by the Los Angeles Chapter of Veterans For Peace, headed up by Vietnam veterans Mark Scully and Ed Ellis. Honorary member Andy Manoff built the crosses and managed the setup with the help of more then 20 volunteers including members from Veterans For Peace, the Topanga Peace Alliance, the Green Party and the Coalition For World Peace. Others instrumental in making this happen were Sally Marr, Peter Dudar, Larry Alpert, Chuck Nixon and Jerry Peace Activist Rubin.

This peace memorial would not have happened if not for Santa Barbara Veterans For Peace Chapter 54, who started the Arlington West Project in Santa Barbara over 3 months ago and who took the time to teach us how to do it. In particular we want to thank Stephen Sherrill, who came up with this idea, and Lane Anderson, who contacted us months ago. We send our heartfelt thanks to all members of VFP in Santa Barbara and to all the others who have helped them keep this memorial going every Sunday since November 9th. It has been making a big impact on those who have seen it, regardless if they supported the war or not.

We do plan on doing this every Sunday until the United States pulls the troops out of Iraq. We need volunteers to help continue this project. Anyone in the Los Angeles area who would like to help can just show up on Sundays at 8:00 AM at the Santa Monica pier for set-up or call Ed Ellis at 323-934-3451 - email: ehe3@msn.com or Frank Dorrel at 310-838-8131 - email: fdorrel@addictedtowar.com

Hopefully, more and more VFP chapters all over the country will begin to do this peace memorial. For more information on this project go to: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Arlington_west_121003.htm