March 14, Dover Air Force Base, DE and March 15, Washington, DC

Over the course of two days, families of servicepeople killed in Iraq, veterans who have returned from combat in Iraq, and peace activists drew attention to the Bush administration's refusal to acknowledge the human cost of the war and occupation in Iraq. By naming the dead on both sides, and attempting to deliver these names to the White House, the organizers and participants hope to force the nation and the Bush administration to recognize that the people dying in Iraq are more than just numbers, but human beings with family and friends that love them and depend on them.

Day One:
March 14, Dover Air Force Base, DE


Led by members of Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, and activists from many peace groups and communities, around 300 people met at Camden Freinds Meetinghouse in Camden, DE to march 3 miles to Dover Air Force Base, the location of the US military's largest mortuary and the arrival site for almost all of the American servicepeople killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the march trailed through the small town of Camden, many passerby shouted or honked their support, while a small number expressed their disdain for the marchers and their goal.

Arriving at the gates of Dover Air Force Base to find a large media prescence, the marchers arrayed themselves along the fence outside the base. Mothers, fathers, relatives, and friends of servicepeople serving in Iraq or killed in Iraq related their experiences dealing with their worries and greif. Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak Out introduced member Jane Bright, whose son was killed in Iraq, and who was barred from receiving her son at Dover AFB. One mother of a serviceman killed in Iraq, Lila Lipscomb, said that for her son's 28th birthday, she got him a headstone and, "I don't want any other mother to have to get their child a headstone." All the parents of service people killed joined in reading the names of both Americans, coalition troops and Iraqis killed during the war and occupation of Iraq. Michael Hoffman, a Marine and an Iraq war veteran, and Tim Goodrich, an Air Force veteran stationed in the Middle East, also addressed the marchers, speaking of the conditions they experienced in Iraq and the feeling among the troops still there. Both men made it clear that many in the military serving in Iraq no longer believed that they were fighting a just war, and did not want to be in Iraq.

Following the Iraq veterans and families of servicepeople, Ziad Abu-Rish, of the American Friends Service Committee, drew parallels between the American occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Mr. Abu-Rish noted that both these occupations, unlike the American occupation of Europe following World War II, were resulting in a continuous loss of life, and did more to turn the inhabitants against their occupiers instead of furthering peace in the Middle East, as the Bush administration has so often stated.

Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) then addressed the marchers, and spoke about House Congressional Resolution 384, which would remove the restriction barring families, the press, and the public from the arrival of the remains of service people when they are returned to the United States. The resolution includes a provision that gives the family of the service person the option to ask for privacy when their child's remains are returned.

The ceremony at Dover Air Force Base was closed by a Litany of Mourning and Truth, led by Sally Milbury-Stein of Pacem in Terris. The litany called for remembrance of lives lost in war, for healing for the loved ones who have lost someone, and for peace in place of war. Following the closing litany, the marchers departed for Baltimore in a funeral caravan of some 20 cars.

Day Two
March 15, Washington, DC

As rush hour traffic passed on Georgia Avenue, participants in the Memorial Procession gathered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in northwest DC, laying black wreaths along the decorative plaque in front of the military hospital complex where many of the American wounded recuperate before being released or returned to combat duty.

Two members of Free Republic arrived to counterdemonstrate, but were quickly shouted down by the mother of a slain American serviceman. While the counterdemonstrators kept up their irreverent prescence, the heartbreaking words of the speakers drowned out their often nonsensical claims of "A.N.S.W.E.R." using the sacrifices of American men and women for political gain. It should be noted that A.N.S.W.E.R. was not a sponsor of the Memorial Procession, nor was it involved in any way, as far as the organizers of the procession know.

Ellen Barfield of Veterans for Peace introduced the speakers, the first of whom was John Grant, of the Philadelphia chapter of Veterans for Peace. Mr. Grant spoke about his recent trips to Iraq, and the deplorable conditions suffered by many of the Iraqis under the US occupation.

Next, Bob McIlvanine of September 11th Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow addressed the group. Mr. McIlvanine lost his son in the 2001 terrorist attacks, and expressed his desire for no one else to suffer the despair that he has felt since losing his son. Mr. McIlvanine also condemned the Bush administration for using his son's and other's deaths for political gains on the campaign trail.

Pat Gunn, a 1970s Navy veteran spoke of the diffifculties and pain she and her husband faced when they learned their son had been seriously wounded in Iraq. Ms. Gunn told the crowd that the U.S. government refused to transport her and her husband to visit their son as he recuperated at Landstuhl, Germany, the first stopping point for almost all dead and wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, Ms. Gunn said it was her employer who finally was able to help get to Germany to be by their son's side as he recovered.

Finally, Rev. Frederick Boyle of Titusville United Methodist Chruch (NJ) took the stage to lead the demonstrators in a Litany of Healing and Peace, speaking of the "river of peace", using water as the central metaphor for the energy that would help to heal both the injured, the tortured nation of Iraq, and the United States.

Following the litany, the procession began down 16th Street for the 6 mile march to the White House. Along the way, the procession was greeted by a playground full of school children who spontaneously began chanting, "No war", and by the DC Rhythm Workers. After short stops for water and rest at a Buddhist Temple, the procession paused at Farragut Park, where Gordon Clark of Iraq Pledge of Resistance roused the spirits of the tired marchers.

The procession entered Lafayette Park and formed a line. With a coffin and an array of black memorial wreaths in the foreground, each marcher took the tiny stage to read the name of an Iraqi civilian, American service person, coalition soldier, or other international killed during the last year in Iraq; many marchers read both a Western name and an Iraqi name, noting that many more Iraqis have died than Westerners. Following each name, there was a solemn roll of drums, and the slips bearing the names were placed into the coffin.

After about half an hour and a seemingly endless stream of names, the marchers lifted up the coffin and slowly carried to the west end of the sidewalk running in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the White House, to chants of, "Honor the Dead, End the War!" At the open end of the sidewalk, the marchers were met by uniformed Secret Service officers, who bloked the way and refused to allow the procession to deliver tha names and the coffin to the White House. As Bill Streyert of Veterans for Peace attempted to pass the police line and reach the White House, the remainder of those marchers risking arrest sat down, blocking the sidewalk.

Following pleas of, "Let them deliver the names!" by the rest of the procession, and several songs, the civil resisters risking arrest each spoke about their reasons for coming to DC to deliver these names of the dead to President Bush. The resisters included several parents of servicepeople serving in Iraq currently and activists of all ages. After an hour, the resisters addressed the officers denying them access to the White House, pleading with them for one more chance to take the names of the dead to the man responsible for their deaths. Bob Smith of Brandywine Peace Community told the officers that he recognized that like many serving in Iraq, they may not agree with the government's policies, and that he hoped they would act as their conscience told them when they voted in November.

At this point the procession picked up the coffin and returned to Farragut Park for a closing circle. Gordon Clark noted that while the procession had been prevented from delivering the names of the victims of the Iraq war to President Bush, the procession had done a wonderful job of commemortaing those victims and hopefully moving our country toward nonviolence instead of war. The tone was solemn yet joyful as the marchers dispersed and began the return trip to their homes.

For more information:
www.peacepledge.org/resist