[HCCN] Blue Hill: Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan War Dead Memorial

[Judy Robbins]

Remember the cost of war and plant a seed for a different future.
Peninsula Peace & Justice will create the Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan  
War Dead Memorial on Memorial Day weekend in Blue Hill.
Since May 2005, a memorial has been set up each year in the Wanning  
field on Main Street as a remembrance of U.S. and Iraqi lives lost  
since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. People from Blue Hill area  
towns and beyond have come every spring and summer  to help with the  
preparation of the field and the placing of white flags, each  
representing a killed U.S. soldier. The purpose of the field is to  
visually represent the true cost of war. This year the field will  
also include flags for  US lives lost in Afghanistan, as well as  
remembrance of civilian deaths incurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan  
as a result of U.S. military escalation. In addition it will seek to   
demonstrate our communal longing for peace and transformation by  
incorporating planting areas. Anyone who wishes may bring a seedling,  
a seed or a transplant and place it in the field. Plants may be  
dedicated to persons or sites by putting a marker in the ground.  
Markers will be provided.

Mainescape (on South Street), who have generously donated flowers  
every summer for the field, will offer a discount to anyone who wants  
to purchase a memorial plant for the field. Please see Althea.

Saturday morning, May 23rd, is the scheduled time for the event.  
(Rain date Sunday 24th) There is preparation to be done (mowing,  
raking) for those who can come at around 9:00, and then at 10:00 the  
flags will begin to go in. Everyone is invited to help. Please bring  
a hand trowel or small spade, a seed, seedling or plant, a jug of  
water, and a pail of good dirt. If there are enough people  
participating, the field would be completed in a few hours. The cost  
of this year's project is $350; financial donations to Peninsula  
Peace & Justice are welcome. At any time during the spring or summer,  
people are encouraged to bring something to plant and set a marker.

As of May 17, 2009, 4,296 US soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq;  
683 in Afghanistan; an estimated 1.3 million Iraqis have been killed  
or died; as yet uncounted Afghan lives have been lost; as yet  
uncounted Pakistani lives have been lost.

Peninsula Peace & Justice
P.O. Box 1515
Blue Hill ME 04614
jrobbins at mainecoastmail.com

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