The Iraq Memorial Wall
In Memory of Those
That Died In Iraq
In Memory Of Those Who Have Died in IRAQ
A Tariffville Resident's attempt to create a memorial that can be approached by all regardless of their views on the war in Iraq. This page contains a press release and several photos of the memorial as it was displayed in West Hartford Center. There are two poems that are currently included, links to these are provided.
The last public showing of the entire wall was on Memorial Day 2006. So many people came to the Memorial Day Parade, so few stopped to visit the wall. Ten of the panels were also recently in the 2006 Connecticut Veteran's Day Parade.
Connecticut's Veteran's Day Parade November 5, 2006 Hartford, CT (ten panels on five wagons)
Memorial Day 2006 Simsbury CT (Sixteen Full Panels)
Hope-Out-Loud Festival in Bushnell Park (September 2005 - Twelve Full Panels)
July 4th 2005 at the Willimantic Boom Box Parade, Willimantic CT
Memorial Day 2005 Simsbury CT
Memorial Day 2005 at Tariffville, CT
May 29th at Unitarian-Universalist Society of Greater Springfield (Massachussetts) for a Memorial Day Service
At the Hartford Fiddle-fest on May 30th, 2005
March 20, 2005: Second Anniversary of the War at the Boston Common
March 19, 2005: Second Anniversary of the War in Hartford and Barnard Park
October 17, 2004: Glastonbury Apple Festival ... The Iraq Memorial Wall on Wheels
September 12, 2004: 3rd Annual "Hope-Out-Loud" Peace Festival
September 11, 2004: Simsbury Park, Simsbury CT
August 31, 2004: The Reading Of The Names during the removal of the Iraq Memorial Wall from the Connecticut State Capitol / Legislative Office Building. The Wall had been on display for the entire month of August.
Fourth of July 2004, Litchfield Green, Litchfield, CT
West Hartford Center, West Hartford, CT
Bushnell Park, Hartford May 29, 2004
Memorial Day 2004 as seen from St. Bernard's Cemetery, Tariffville, CT
Memorial Day 2004 in front of Eno Hall, Simsbury CT
June 1, 2004 in the West Hartford Town Hall
Iraq Memorial - Photos from West Hartford Display March 27
Iraq Memorial - Photos from West Hartford Display April 3
Iraq Memorial - Photos from West Hartford Display April 10
Press Release and Description of the Project
Poem #1 'Cello' by Dorianne Laux
Poem #2 'No Man's Land' by Eric Bogle
Poem #3 'Casey's Poem' by Carley Sheehan
Poem By Wayne:
Breathe at the Wall
Come here to see the Wall
Come!
Be still
breathe in deep, softly
Remember that you can breathe.
Those that you see here cannot.
They lost their breath far away.
Now today they are quiet.
Today we feel emotions,
today they feel none at all.
Be respectful of their lives
Many thoughts swirl, mixed, confused.
Some here, who no longer breathe
would gladly repeat their fate.
Some here, who no longer breathe,
we suppose, weren't so willing
to find their names on the Wall.
All here who no longer breathe
Will be missed at dinner time.
But their absence ... we must face.
Many faces should be shown
Yet are not ... since they still breathe.
They are broken and must heal.
They may not walk, may not see
Others still ... have seen too much
now their darkened minds must heal.
Other faces are not here.
Died defending their known world.
Enemy soldiers now dead.
They no longer can draw breath.
Enemy are enemies
Because we give them that name.
Children of the enemy
Can not breathe in and then out.
Caught between a rock and
Depleted uranium.
Mothers and sons and daughters
not enemies
just no breath
Depleted uranium
that protected our soldiers.
Now nothing but dust for eons.
Breaths filled with this toxic dust
Will cause them to cease breathing
before their time should be over.
Take the time to count these costs.
Could there be another way?
Can there be peace without justice?
Did these deaths promote justice?
Be still
breathe in deep, softly
Remember that you can breathe.
-Wayne Coste (March 2004)