(Who would do this? – promoted by SFBrianCL)
Last night vandals desecrated the memorial to the fallen heroes in Iraq on a hillside in Lafayette, California. The vandals used black paint to cover up the tribute on the sign which read: “IN MEMORY OF 2,937 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ.”
Jeff Heaton developed the plan to build a memorial to the fallen U.S. troops in Iraq. The memorial of crosses is located on private property owned by John and Louise Clark near the BART station in Lafayette. The property is on a hillside and is clearly visible to commuters on BART and on Highway 24. Volunteer support for the project initially came from community peace advocates including the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center and the Lamorinda Peace Group.
Last night vandals desecrated the memorial to the fallen heroes in Iraq on a hillside in Lafayette, California. The vandals used black paint to cover up the tribute on the sign which read: “IN MEMORY OF 2,937 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ.”
Jeff Heaton developed the plan to build a memorial to the fallen U.S. troops in Iraq. The memorial of crosses is located on private property owned by John and Louise Clark near the BART station in Lafayette. The property is on a hillside and is clearly visible to commuters on BART and on Highway 24. Volunteer support for the project initially came from community peace advocates including the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center and the Lamorinda Peace Group.
Volunteers built and painted 420 crosses leading up to Veterans Day. These crosses were erected on the hillside over the weekend of November 11. A sign large enough to be read from a distance was also erected. Initially, the sign read: “IN MEMORY OF 2,839 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ.” The sign, in turn, became a lightning rod for controversy. On November 14, a photographer from the Contra Costa Times happened to snap a photo of Jean Bonodio, identified as a former Marine, knocking the sign down. The City of Lafayette agreed to discuss the issue of the sign at a regularly scheduled city council meeting on November 27. The meeting attracted enormous media attention and allowed citizens to express their opinions about the war, free speech, the memorial, patriotism, respect for the military and the size of the sign.
On November 30, Michelle Locke, an AP journalist specializing in free speech issues wrote a story that was picked up world wide. The goal of the memorial is eventually to have a cross for every soldier killed in Iraq. The volunteer force building, painting and erecting the crosses has grown steadily. Each Sunday more crosses are added.
And now something really ugly has happened. The crosses and the sign have meant different things to different viewers. Some see a memorial to the fallen heroes in Iraq. Others see an anti war mesaage that does not show proper respect to our troops. But what can we make of this kind of vandalism and its misguided perpetrators? And how will the community respond? I hope to see a renewed commitment to completing the memorial and to ending this tragic war.
Cross posted at Eschew Obfuscation