The Iraq Names Project continues.
Nancy will continue to draw the names of all coalition soldiers who die in Iraq.
Currently she is in front of the Convention Center on NE Martin Luther King Blvd near NE Pacific Ave, heading toward the Burnside Bridge.
You are welcomed to join her and help chalk names.
Mondays 9am to 10am.
On Memorial Day 2009, Nancy Hiss wanted to join the Veterans For Peace and draw at Peace Memorial Park, which the VfP maintain.
The Veterans gathered at Memorial Coliseum and walked to Peace Park. Nancy had drawn the word ‘peace’ in many different languages around the planted peace symbol. Each language represented a nation that has been in conflict with the USA.
English
Sioux
Arabic
French
Persian
Pustu
Pashto sorry overexposed
Serbo Croatian
Somalia
Arabic
Vietnamese
Vietnamese
Korean
Italian
Japanese
Russian
German
Hatian Creole
Filipino
Tagalog
Spanish
Lakota
Two years ago, Nancy spent a long day drawing names. She had planned to bypass Peace Park, but a video shoot forced her to change direction. In one of those coincidences that often occur during this project, she ended up at Peace Park. The next to last name that day was Casey Shannon. The names are drawn chronologically. His name fittingly, fell right at Peace Park. Every year ever since Nancy has drawn the name Sheehan at Peace Park on Memorial Day. This year, after she had already completed drawing the name, one of the Veterans For Peace organizers informed Nancy that Casey’s mom, Cindy Sheehan, would be talking there later in the day.
Casey Sheehan
Memorial Day Weekend Schedule:
Saturday May 23rd 11am-2pm
Sunday May 24th 11am-2pm
Monday May 25th 11am-2pm Memorial Day
On Saturday and Sunday Nancy will be drawing on NE MLK BLVD between NE Holladay and E Burnside. [Please note the change.]
On Memorial Day, Monday May 25th, she will be at Peace Park, drawing the names of those who have special meaning to the Iraq Names Project.
If there is someone whose name you would like her to draw on Memorial Day, just ask.
Everyone is invited to come down and help chalk and remember the dead.
She is also going to try to write the word “peace” in the language of every nation we have been at war with.
I want to thank the Oregonian for running a very good article on the deployment of 2,600 (2,600!) members of the Oregon National Guard in the Sunday May 3rd issue. Not only did Julie Sullivan write a nice article about the largest deployment since World War II, but they included photos of 200 soldiers along with thier names, age, hometown and civilian jobs.
It’s was refreshing to see Guard members individually recognized while they are still living.
It was also humanizing to see their faces, ages, hometowns and jobs.
They did not do as good a job with thier on line site, but you can see the photos here. A version of the article is here.
Stephen Okray was 21 years old when he died.
St. Clair Shores, Michigan was where he grew up, and took lots of risks. “He never got hurt, he always just bounced,” said his brother Jeff.
He was very family oriented and his Christmas Eve 2008 death left friends and family devastated.
Robert L Johnson was 21 when he died December 20th, 2008. He was from Central Point, Oregon. An avid outdoorsman, he loved, hunting, fishing and camping. Brother, son and husband his lost is not calculable.
If you would like to join Nancy to help chalk his name stop by next Monday morning on NE Holiday St and 6th Ave.
Nancy has returned to chalking on Monday mornings, 7:15am ish.
She is currently on NE Holladay near 5th Ave.
Tonight February 10th she will be presenting the Iraq Names Project at the Veterans For Peace Monthly meeting. (How is that for short notice?)
7 PM, at the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave.
The Veterans For Peace includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations including the current Iraq war as well as other conflicts. Their collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary.
The Portland Chapter created and maintains Peace Memorial Park on the East side of the Steel Bridge.
Veteran Mike Kennedy chalks his family name.
I have just reread Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham City Jail.
Reading the letter reminds me why I join Nancy to chalk on freezing cold mornings.
This morning was freezing cold. Nancy and a few hardy friends took a few minutes to remember Anthony Davis and Warren Frank, in front of the Liberty Centre a few blocks from Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.
Warren Frank was 26 years old when he died. Frank was from Anderson Township near Cincinnati Ohio. “Our son wanted nothing more than to make a difference in our world,” said Frank’s father, Warren R. Frank, in a statement sent to the media. “He was not a movie version soldier, but a man who looked forward to loving his children, retiring from the service of his country, teaching history at a high school and coaching track.” He was working on a food distribution mission North of Baghdad when he was killed.
Anthony Davis was 43 years old when he was killed. Anthony Davis from East Baltimore Maryland and living in Triangle Virgina, had volunteered for humanitarian assistance duty. He was working on the same humanitarian food drop as Warren Frank when he was killed. He worked assessing schools and arranging for repairs and supplies. His eighteen year old daughter, Diana, collected soccer balls for distribution to Iraqi children.
“We must remain vigilant and pray that we are getting through to the younger generation, who will one day inherit this nation, so that they remember us as peaceful and encouraging not intruders and invaders,” Davis wrote in an e-mail.
Volunteerism was part of Anthony’s life. His mother made sure he, and his 16 brother and sisters, did volunteer work when they were growing up.
A brother, husband, father of 5 and grandfather of 1. Our thoughts go out to them and to Warren Frank’s family.
Nancy managed to draw a few names last week after things dried out. She will chalk again on Monday, Inauguration Tuesday, and a name or 2 on Wednesday and Thursday.
She is currently NE Holladay St between 7th and 5th in front of the Liberty Centre.
7:15 am ish Monday, please come join her or stop and say hello.
View Larger Map
Christian Humphreys was 28 years old when he died November 15th 2008. From Alamogordo New Mexico he had many friends in Nevada and Alaska where he was stationed. Christian served first in the Navy, then in the Army, doing helicopter Search and Rescue when he was stationed in the States. He died just shy of his 4th wedding anniversary, a friend to many he is missed.
Many people have commented how the Iraq Names Project reminds them of Maya Lin’s Viet Nam Memorial. When people see the names it personalizes the war. There is a realization that these are not abstract heroes fighting far away, these are our neighbors, the kid down the street, firefighters, teachers and clerks.
Last month the Iraq Names Project was next to the granite wall at the Bonneville Power Administration building making the connection to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC even stronger.
Here is a page of links to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Please visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial if you get a chance.
Photo by Clint
Ryan Jopek was 20 years old when he died. He made his home in Merrill Wisconsin. Ryan loved his 1966 Chevy pickup truck. According to a resolution passed by the Wisconsin legislature, he was a Chicago Bears fan and modeled his life after Walter Payton.
Matthew Stanley was 22 years old when he died in Iraq. He grew up in Wolfeboro New Hampshire. Matthew is remembered by his large family as a very responsible teenager, he worked in his uncle’s seafood business, helped raise younger cousins and was fun to be around.
Our friend Clint suggested, back when it was topical, that I write about the soldiers whose names are on bracelets worn by John McCain and Barack Obama. First McCain and then Obama mentioned the bracelets during the debates. McCain mentioned his bracelet and Matthew Stanley first. Obama had to decide if he was going to mention Ryan Jopek. Ryan’s mother had asked Obama not to use her sons names in speeches. She simply asked that he remember her son and try to end the killing so other mothers don’t have to suffer. After the debate she said that she was “ecstatic” when Obama mentioned her son.
These 2 young men, with brothers and sisters and parents and cousins and aunts and uncles, will be remembered not just by their families and friends, but by all of us and historians for their part in war, and in presidential politics.
I had not heard of these memorial bracelets before last summer. It was when Nancy was drawing names of the dead on NE Broadway that she met a woman who still wore the bracelet of a friend of who died in Viet Nam decades ago.
Nancy will start chalking again, as soon as the weather allows. The schedule and location are below.
