War Vigil Honors 2007 Hometown Heroes

By John Voket

The tightly-knit gathering was quiet, many with heads bowed, some occasionally shaking back and forth, momentarily in denial or fighting to comprehend the sheer volume of the numbers being read, sometimes whispered, as each took their turn with the list. The small group that came to the front of Edmond Town Hall Tuesday night was apparently not there to convince anyone of anything, although more than a few passersby were drawn to the flickering candles and modest banners proclaiming messages of peace.

Except for a brief opening statement from Newtown resident and MoveOn.org’s local peace vigil organizerJoan Ellen Gereg, the nearly two-hour event was about recognizing those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“We are all here together to highlight the terrible crisis…an unwinnable religious civil war in Iraq,” Ms Gereg said, reading from a prepared statement. She then asked that US representatives vote in September to bring the troops home.

“Over 3,700 of our troops have died in Iraq since this war began, and more than 25,000 have been injured,” she continued. A few moments later she began reading from a day-by-day calendar detailing “one small part of the human cost of this war,” those who have died so far this year.

“January first, 2007, one US serviceman died. He was from Pittsburgh, Penn.,” Ms Gereg read from the Department of the Military’s list. And so went the remainder of the ceremony for the almost two hours it took to detail each hometown hero who made the ultimate sacrifice. From San Antonio, Texas; Hawley, Minn.; Paradise, Calif.; Webster, Fla.; Falls Church, Va., the count ticked on.

Those who gathered at Edmond Town Hall this week represented several generations, some old enough to recall World War II or at least the Korean Conflict, others young enough to have been infants when the current conflict began. Certainly a few were of the age that they may have protested Vietnam, or the first Gulf War.

The nationwide promotion of hometown peace vigils was organized by supporters of MoveOn.org on National Take a Stand Day.