Man rips name of son from anti-war display

Man rips name of son from anti-war display
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jun 2, 2008 6:09:46 EDT

CORNISH, N.H. — The father of a fallen New Hampshire soldier says a peace group in Cornish disrespected his son’s memory by using his name in a display.

The group Cornish Women for Peace labeled about two dozen pairs of boots with the names of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then displayed them in town. One of the boots bore the name of 22-year-old Justin Rollins, who was killed in Iraq last year.

The group said it was honoring the soldiers’ memory and trying to get people to think about their loss. But Rollins’ father, Skip, says the boots were a disgrace.

“I’ve been stressed out for a week, not sleeping at night, knowing the names are on the boots, disrespecting these kids,” Rollins said. “This is not about politics; this is about respect. I believe everyone has the right to demonstrate and protest, but they have no right to use our son’s name on their anti-war display.”

During the past two weeks, the collection of more than a dozen pairs of boots has been displayed in the Cornish town offices as part of a nationwide awareness project dubbed “Eyes Wide Open.” For their last day in town, Cornish Women for Peace planned to display the boots at the annual Memorial ceremony, but did not, after Skip Rollins spoke up.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_memorialprotest_053108/