Big Bend Veterans for Peace plan dedication ceremony

Special to the Avalanche

Big Bend Veterans for Peace will hold a public dedication of their chapter's memorial, Arlington Southwest, fashioned after Arlington National Cemetery, on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m.
The dedication ceremony will include a reading of the names of Texan military fatalities in Iraq and the playing of Taps.

The 354 tombstones, made of papercrete and fabricated by chapter members, friends and supporters of the memorial, equal the number of Texan military casualties as of this date.
Mark Battista and Tom Curry, the VFP artists overseeing the construction of Arlington Southwest, said the memorial also honors all victims of the occupation of Iraq.

Local members of the group say Veterans for Peace chapters have established many Arlington memorials, but this will be the only one in the nation that is a permanent installation.
Brian Kokernot donated the use of his family's ranch land along Highway 90 for the Arlington Southwest memorial. He said he hopes it creates a reminder for Big Bend residents and visitors of the cost of war and our responsibilities as citizens to speak out publicly on issues.

"The reason for making Arlington Southwest, to me," said Curry, "is to show in a clear, dramatic way the cost and consequences of an unnecessary and illegal war started by leaders who have never seen military combat.

"If we could have made tombstones to represent all the U.S. troops lost and all the Iraqi civilians lost, it would probably cover most of the ranch."

The Big Bend group, chartered in 2007, is the 151st chapter of the national veterans organization, which was founded in 1986. A group spokesman said there are 55 local members.

Big Bend Veterans for Peace plan dedication ceremony (click for article with photos)
Special to the Avalanche