A visceral reminder of Iraq war’s casualties

03/20/2007

By Kevin Behr, Star Tribune
March 20, 2007


Forty-seven pairs of empty combat boots -- representing the 47 Minnesota soldiers killed in the Iraq war -- formed two rings around the center of the State Capitol rotunda Monday during a ceremony to remember war victims, both American and Iraqi.

The exhibit, "Eyes Wide Open Minnesota," also featured many pairs of shoes to symbolize dead Iraqi citizens. Tags, with names and ages of the victims, were attached to the boots and shoes.

Volunteers read the names of every American soldier killed in Iraq, and a crowd of about 100 stood as somber witnesses. The litany echoed off the walls of the rotunda as visitors glanced through scrapbooks with the biographies of the 47 Minnesotans killed in the war.

The event was sponsored by Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace, Crocus Hill/West 7th Neighbors for Peace and co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and other anti-war groups.

Although it followed a string of weekend national war protests, the ceremony was scheduled for the anniversary of the start of the war as a way to remember those who have died, not as a protest, said Anne Benson, one of the organizers.

Some in the crowd wanted to learn more about the war and its effects, while others came to voice support for the antiwar effort.

Tom Vandervoort, a Vietnam War veteran and resident of St. Paul, said the exhibit draws attention to American soldiers and Iraqi civilians being killed in an "illegal and immoral war."As a vet, it's distressing to see them killed for no good reason," he said.

Former state Sen. Becky Lourey called for peace in Iraq and the return of U.S. troops. Her son, Matt Lourey, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot, was killed in May 2005 and his boots were among those in the rotunda.

Joyce Denn, of Woodbury, a veteran of Vietnam War protests, said she can't get over the loss of so many young people.

"I'm beyond angry," she said. "I'm crying."