photo by Melanie Szewczyk

Brenda Wickline (05) stoops to help paint crosses that will be placed on the Chapel lawn in memory of fallen soldiers since the beginning of the "war on terrorism."

Crosses displayed on Chapel Lawn in memory of fallen soldiers

SCOTT WEIR

Staff Writer

Hundreds of six-inch tall crosses will grace the chapel lawn this Thursday in an effort by the Alma College Peace Coalition to raise awareness of the events taking place over in Iraq. This event will take place one day before the one-year anniversary of when the US entered the conflict in Iraq.

Brenda Wickline (05), President of ACPC said, “We have made a white cross for every US solider who has died in Iraq in the last year. The ACPC was against the war to begin with and this is just a way to commemorate the soldiers who died and show that it has been a horrible situation.”

The number of soldiers who have died in Iraq last year is currently at 756. ACPC will update this number as it continues to rise. The approval was given by physical plant, to put out the crosses, and ACPC chose the chapel lawn simply because it was a prominent place on campus.

Amber Elenbaas (05) told the Almanian, “We had originally wanted for the story to run after the event because we don’t want people to make judgments before they see it. We hope that the display is visually simulating and that people will be moved. Formulated opinions would undermine the original intent of the project.”

Liz Wieland (07) was disappointed at ACPC’s choice to use the cross saying, “Well, I think it is a great idea so that they can get across the idea of just how many people died, but that they should use something more religiously neutral than crosses. They can ‘t really assume that all those that died were Christian.”

Another ACPC member Alexandra Bartlett (04) commented, “This is a way of making the campus aware of what is really going on. We have no emotional attachment (to Iraq) unless we have loved ones over there. It is bringing home reality of it.” As far the conflict is concerned she commented, “It is very simple, I feel that the US tries to act like the world police. Instead of protecting us we are going into other countries and pushing our belief on others.”

In general though ACPC isn’t doing this event because they are anti-war, but so that it can bring some conversation to campus as well as to act as a visual reminder. Elenbaas said, “ACPC is always for good conversation about various issues. We are hoping this sheds some light on the hard to address topics of war. We hope people are reminded of how many people that died, many who are close to our own age.”

Because of this, ACPC has planned a follow-up conversation and time for discussion/ reflection in the Jones Rotunda the Monday following the event at 7:30 PM.

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