Now this is sad: Iraq war dead memorial struggles to keep up with losses

As Iraq war drags on, so does a temporary memorial
By Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer
November 10, 2006


‘ARLINGTON WEST’: Nigel Mahood, a Veterans for Peace volunteer who is the son of a veteran, carries flags to plant as part of a weekly memorial in Santa Barbara honoring American military personnel killed in the Iraq war.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)


TRIBUTE: Rolanda Reeder, left, Carolyn Rice and Dinah Mason join Carol DiRaimindo, second from right, in honoring DiRaimindo’s son Michael, represented by one of the crosses, which most recently numbered 2,831.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

SANTA BARBARA — It looks like an engineer's dream: Forty-nine rows and 52 columns of white, wooden crosses a foot-and-a-half high, each exactly 36 inches from its neighbor, each row exactly 60 inches from the next, a precise reckoning of combat death gleaming on the beach beside Stearns Wharf.

Each cross in the display mounted every Sunday represents an American fatality in Iraq.

At its start three years ago, the project had 340 of them. Last Sunday, there were 2,831.

In a telling comment on the war's unexpected duration, organizers of the memorial called Arlington West now are talking about picking a number — perhaps 3,000 — and building no more crosses after it's reached.

"It's strictly a matter of logistics — there's just a limit to how much room we can take up and how many crosses we can handle," said Dan Seidenberg, president of the local chapter of a group called Veterans for Peace. "I mean: How long will this war drag on?"

About a dozen volunteers have shown up week after week since the start. They're joined by up to 30 others who appear now and again. Some started coming only in recent months, prompted by rumors that the project would cease for lack of help.

On a recent Sunday, Rod Edwards, an engineer for the Goleta Water District, walked briskly down the rows, hunching over to secure laminated, handwritten nameplates, using two rubber bands per cross.

"You almost feel you know them after a while," said Edwards, who volunteers for the task each week. "It just tears your heart out."

Here he draped a string of rosary beads that a soldier's parents had left for their son's marker; there he propped up a plastic-encased obituary for Sgt. Mark A. Maida, who "deployed to Iraq and adopted a puppy there named Maxine." He was 22.

On this day, Edwards made quick work of installing more than 1,200 nametags.

Marine Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, of Los Angeles: "Graduate of El Monte High School and father of a newborn."

Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar, 20, of Escondido: "RIP: Our Hero and Aztec warrior."

When there were fewer crosses, each name was displayed. Now, the names of all fatalities are dutifully recorded on nameplates, but volunteers put up only those whose friends or families have visited.

Not long ago, Edwards said, he comforted a sailor who had dropped by to seek out the name of his buddy.

"He seemed fine at first," Edwards said. "But when he saw the name, he just lost it. He threw himself on the sand and cried."

more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crosses10nov10,1,6920620,full.story