Walpole Times

Tribute Saturday for fallen soldiers in Iraq

By Keith Ferguson
Wed May 28, 2008

WALPOLE - After narrowly gaining approval from selectmen, the Walpole Peace and Justice Group has decided to hold its own Memorial Day service this Saturday. They chose the date so that it wouldn’t conflict with the town’s observance of the holiday this past Monday, according to member Philip Czachorowski.

The “Tribute to U.S. Military Killed in Iraq” will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the common across from the main post office.
Earlier this month, Selectmen David Sullivan and Chris Timson voted against allowing the group to hold a tribute to fallen soldiers in Iraq on Memorial Day because they thought the service would turn into a protest or become a competition with the traditional observance.

Standing before Selectmen on May 6, Czachorowski said he would contact veterans and move the service to May 31 if they wished, but assured the board the gathering was a tribute, not a protest.

“I asked them to change it,” said Veterans Agent John Spillane, since many veterans were upset about it.

Spillane said he was positive it was an anti-war protest.

“Everything they do it a protest,” he said.

Spillane said he was also concerned that holding a service for soldiers killed in Iraq would overlook the sacrifices other troops have made in war.

“They feel so bad about the 4,000 killed in Iraq,” he said, but what about the “55,000 killed in Vietnam?” He noted that even more were killed in World War II.

Spillane said he was prepared to go to the Selectmen to protest the tribute if they were going to hold it this past Monday, but “they were nice enough to change it.”

Selectmen Chairman Al DeNapoli said the board would be facing a slippery slope if they allowed one town group to limit the freedoms of another.

Most anti-war people are negatively stereotyped, Peace and Justice member Madeline Champagne said.

“The main concern is how people are coming back [from Iraq],” she said. “Anti-war people are caring.”

She did say that the move to this Saturday may have worked out better for the group since it is closer to actual Memorial Day on May 30.

Champagne, a Foxboro resident, created a display featuring the names, ages, ranks and date of death of all 4,084 troops killed in Iraq.

The information is on wristbands similar to hospital bracelets and secured to a thin chain. The chains are then hung from a PVC pipe.
Originally, the display was called the “Bondage of War,” Champagne said. She said she doesn’t see why such a display can’t be both anti-war and a tribute. The Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. is both, she explained.

“Memorials and tributes have different messages,” she said.

Champagne’s labor is on permanent display in the Peace Abbey in Sherborn.

There are 50 names on each chain, she said. The 81 chains, about 6 feet in height, stretch around the basement room. When she first started the project a little over a year ago, there were 3,000 names.

“I’ll just keep going around the room,” she said.

Some families of fallen soldiers have visited the display, according to Champagne.

“They’re very thankful that I’ve done this,” she said, explaining that the effort was to put a name with the dead, not just a number.

“Regardless of one’s opinion of the Iraq War,” said Czachorowski, “we all join in honoring those who have given their lives in the service of their country.”