Memorial Mile for the Fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 30, 2011 · 2:04 AM PDT

2011/05/30 · 02:04

In Gainesville, Florida, the local chapter of Veterans for Peace organizes a Memorial Mile this time of year, in a park area along northwest 8th Avenue. Individual grave markers, like tombstones, more than six thousand of them, recall each of the American service members who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are four abreast, grouped by circumstances of their deaths: country, year and day. Each tombstone carries a name, a date of death, age, branch of service, rank and hometown.
The visual spectacle of the Mile is very moving (only partially captured by the available videos). The municipality already has in the mile a permanent Solar System Walk, marked by a series of pylons which start with our Sun at 34th street and proceed eastward at irregular intervals with a pylon for each of the planets (not excluding Pluto), at distances proportional to their astronomical ones. This already gives a hint of larger meanings to the Mile space, of important things represented but not stated. When the tombstones are added in, and you see them marching forward, year by year, toward a far-distant hill, there is an air of solemnity, but not of rest.

Along a stretch of the North side, there’s an exhibit of the Peace Ribbon, organized by Code Pink, a collection of cloth panels sewn by loved ones of those who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Three stands provide information, shade and some water.
The Memorial Mile display has been has been up five times by now, and each year the procession of markers is longer. The number of Gainesville people represented is now 5 times larger than it was at first. In fact, the entire mile space has been consumed along the South side of the Avenue, and the column of tombstones has had to turn back West along the north side of the Avenue. Scott Camil, Viet Nam vet, president of VFP Chapter 14 and Mile organizer, wonders if they will run out of room before these wars are over. Then what?
A small American flag distinguishes the tombs of those with local ties. This makes it easier to find them, and there is a complete catalogue as well. Some of the tablets have had special ministration from friends and loved ones, with flowers, candles, and, above all, messages, inscriptions of love, respect, solidarity, and longing. Promises, and emblems of their units.
Some anecdotes from the volunteers:
The aunt of a soldier who died in Afghanistan came to her nephew's tombstone and wrote: 'Your mom misses you very much.'
A father, of a soldier who had died in 2010, traveled to Gainesville and laid flowers at the tombstone of his son.
A visitor today said that if there was a display like this in every city of the country we could do away with war.
Some Buddhist monks on a pilgrimage stopped by and chanted and drummed for hours at the Memorial Mile.

Sources and image links:
Scott Camil, VFP volunteers Sheila Payne and Mary Bahr, links, and my hands and knees. Photos and video links here and here.

2:51 PM PT: The special characteristic of this Memorial is that it reflects the living nature of the collective sacrifice. In honoring the losses, the arrangement of the gravemarkers -grouped by year of death rather than by service or by name- reflects the war as an ongoing, developing process, not a static end point or repository. There is change over time, and there is political responsibilty for the decision-making. And this is respectfully alluded to in presidential quotes that punctuate the procession of gravestones.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Memorial Mile for the Fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan

Comments are closed on this story.