Video from the Instant Vigil

Here is a wonderful video from the contra costa times of Monday's Vigil to commemorate the now 4000 troops who have died. Sound and some clips of the wonderful song written about our memorial, "Memorial Day," written and performed by Laura Zucker.

4,000

4,000 casulties; instant vigil today

this info was sent to me from baika. the instant vigil to commemorate 4,000 U.S. troops who have fallen in iraq will occur today at 6pm:

Hello all,

Thank you for signing up for the instant vigil list. We will gather at the Crosses of Lafayette tomorrow evening March 24th at 6pm to commemorate the 4000 America soldiers who have died in the Iraq War. We have not yet planned the agenda.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES TO COME BY FORWARDING THIS POST.

Thank you,

http://icasualties.org/oif/


U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
3992
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 8
Total 4000
DoD Confirmation List

abc7news covers 5th anniversary of war vigil

abc news covered the vigil held wednesday night for the 5th anniversary of the war. they report that only 20 volunteers could make it. there post contains the video from the wednesday night broadcast. click watch video in the flash player at the top of the post to see it.

Here's a part of the transcript from the video that we should all reflect on:

John Jensen from Kennsington came to honor his nephew, a casualty of war, after he returned home.

"When he returned he killed himself," said Jensen.

Jensen says American soldiers were attacked by suicide bombers and while trying to protect themselves they also killed innocent people.

"And so they tell them to stay back, don't come any closer, they don't understand English, so they would just kill them," said Jensen.

He wonders how many American soldiers are facing the same moral struggle his nephew faced.

"We all have a mindset of who we are and what our values are and the military tries to change that so that you can do what they need you to do, and it doesn't change forever. People flashback and they want to be who they were when they left," said Jensen.

url: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6031212

5th Anniversary of War - Vigil Tonight

There will be a vigil at the crosses tonight marking the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. Details:

There will be a vigil at the Crosses of Lafayette form 5-8pm. Lynn M. is the point person.

PLEASE REMEMBER...

NO CANDLES, BRING A FLASHLIGHT

USE THE CROSSWALKS

TELL A FRIEND

THIS WILL BE A PEACEFUL VIGIL WITHOUT A PLANNED PROGRAM

Also the instant vigil when US troop casualties have reached 4,000, is still in the works, stay tuned for details.

Instant Vigil When 4,000 Have Died

3988 American men and women in service have lost their lives in Iraq. When that number reaches 4,000 the crosses memorial organizers plan to hold an instant vigil to for the fallen and to bring the rest of the troops home.

Jeff and Baika wrote in an email:

Hi All,

Just wanted to remind those of you who signed up for instant vigil detail (if you are able to avail yourselves) that we do plan an instant vigil when we reach 4000. Normally we go by www.icasualties.org but we'll go with the flow of the media, should that come in sooner. The count is 3988 as of Saturday. We are paying close attention to this and we also realize that this number is not accurate and that we surpassed the 4000 mark long ago. This number is what the Gold Star Moms go by. We are formulating a plan for the evening at the moment to begin at 6PM.

We do not have anything planned for the anniversary date. We did not want to compete with the march in WC event, but are currently talking about having a quiet vigil at the Crosses on Wednesday evening. Stay tuned.

If you are interested in attending the instant vigil please message me at christopheaton[at]gmail[dot]com and I will forward your request to the main memorial organizers

Award Winning Multimedia

On Sunday March 16th the San Jose Mercury News announced that several of its pieces won awards in the 65th Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition including first place for the multimedia news story, Hillside display of crosses: A war of emotions by the talented photo journalist Pauline Lubens .

Created in May, the peace is a wonderful collage of video, photos, and voice over interviews with people for and against the war and the hillside memorial. It does a good job of recounting the beginings of the memorial, early vandalism, the pro-war rallies held against the memorial and contains many voices supporting or deriding the memorial. It truly is one of the best pieces I've seen and I recommend everyone watch it:
www.mercurynewsphoto.com/blog/2007/05/28/a-hillside-display-of-crosses-a-war-of-emotions/


On a tangential note, I would like to point out one voice who's derision does not deride from her feelings about the war. Rather she thinks the crosses representing death have no public place in a wholesome community like Lafayette. This harks back to one of my interests when starting this blog, what does the presence of the memorial mean for and about an affluent suburban community?

Rep George Miller at the Memorial

From last summer, Rep George Miller comes to the crosses memorial to reflect on our fallen soldiers, our failed pointless war, and pressuring congress to bring them home.