Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Veterans for Peace makes its (grave) mark

"The feedback has changed significantly over the years."

A group of military veterans gathered in front of the Midway museum downtown before the city's annual Veterans Day parade with a display intended to both memorialize and call attention to Southern California soldiers who've died in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts of the last 13 years.

"We originally honored all the fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan — we had crosses with individual names of soldiers nationwide, but when that number approached 3000 we couldn't physically carry them anymore," says Gil Field of San Diego Veterans for Peace.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In recent years the display has evolved into what the group calls "Hometown Arlington West," which consists of about 300 tombstone-like markers, each bearing the name of a local soldier from San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles, or Orange County. They are accompanied by maybe 20 headstones in all black.

"As it turns out, we should have twice as many black headstones as white headstones, more than twice as many veterans die from suicide as have died in the conflict," Field reports.

According to Field, his group's message is twofold.

"Number one, on a day like Veterans Day we're trying to honor the fallen. And we're also trying to educate the public that there is a cost to war. Only about one percent of the nation is directly impacted — most Americans don't have a service member in their families, they don't personally know an active service member."

Field says the reception of Veterans for Peace at events has transformed over the years, from one of hostility to increasing appreciation as public opinion sours on foreign military involvement.

"The feedback has changed significantly over the years. Back when we started doing this, the wars were still moderately popular, so we got pushback from people who felt we were somehow insulting or defaming the fallen by choosing to remember them. In the war's early days, the government didn't even want photos getting out of caskets coming home, they wanted to keep the war away from the public. We took an opposite approach. Today, I would say 99.9 percent of the people have a positive reaction to what we're doing."

Volunteers arrived to begin assembling the headstone display at 8 a.m., they planned to stay through the day's festivities and to disassemble the display at dusk.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Next Article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans

A group of military veterans gathered in front of the Midway museum downtown before the city's annual Veterans Day parade with a display intended to both memorialize and call attention to Southern California soldiers who've died in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts of the last 13 years.

"We originally honored all the fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan — we had crosses with individual names of soldiers nationwide, but when that number approached 3000 we couldn't physically carry them anymore," says Gil Field of San Diego Veterans for Peace.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In recent years the display has evolved into what the group calls "Hometown Arlington West," which consists of about 300 tombstone-like markers, each bearing the name of a local soldier from San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles, or Orange County. They are accompanied by maybe 20 headstones in all black.

"As it turns out, we should have twice as many black headstones as white headstones, more than twice as many veterans die from suicide as have died in the conflict," Field reports.

According to Field, his group's message is twofold.

"Number one, on a day like Veterans Day we're trying to honor the fallen. And we're also trying to educate the public that there is a cost to war. Only about one percent of the nation is directly impacted — most Americans don't have a service member in their families, they don't personally know an active service member."

Field says the reception of Veterans for Peace at events has transformed over the years, from one of hostility to increasing appreciation as public opinion sours on foreign military involvement.

"The feedback has changed significantly over the years. Back when we started doing this, the wars were still moderately popular, so we got pushback from people who felt we were somehow insulting or defaming the fallen by choosing to remember them. In the war's early days, the government didn't even want photos getting out of caskets coming home, they wanted to keep the war away from the public. We took an opposite approach. Today, I would say 99.9 percent of the people have a positive reaction to what we're doing."

Volunteers arrived to begin assembling the headstone display at 8 a.m., they planned to stay through the day's festivities and to disassemble the display at dusk.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Next Article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader