{"article":{"id":193822,"heading":"Santa Monica &quot;Arlington West&quot; Iraq War Memorial Marks Three Years","author":"Jeff Paterson","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:21","modified":"2013-11-11 00:47:14","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:47:14","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>SANTA MONICA, CA (Feb. 18, 2007) &ndash; Member and volunteers of the Los Angeles Chapter of Veterans for Peace began arriving at the Santa Monica pier this morning at 4am to erect &ldquo;Arlington West,&rdquo; a temporary cemetery in the sand to remember U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Today marked the third anniversary of this edition of the ever growing memorial. In fact, organizers have been forced to cap the number of white crosses at 2,500, and begin using red painted crosses to represent ten U.S. casualties, in order to not take over the popular beach front. This week, 12 flag-draped coffins represented the past weeks U.S death toll, for a total of 3,135 (43,658 wounded or injured). Like every one of the previous 155 Sunday&rsquo;s on the north side of the pier: Family members of killed servicepersons searched the rows for their loved ones name; Soldiers found their buddy&rsquo;s marker; Strangers added flowers to random crosses; Some pondered the sign declaring the staggering magnitude of Iraqis killed (estimated at 655,000+) by the U.S. invasion and occupation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"jeff@paterson.net","link":"http:\/\/www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org\/","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Santa Monica &quot;Arlington West&quot; Iraq War memorial marks three years with no end in sight as Bush &quot;surges&quot; occupation.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2007\/02\/1-2red-324.jpg","filesize":"66.1 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2007\/02\/193822.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2007\/02\/1-2red-324.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2007\/02\/1-2red-324.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":193823,"heading":"Stefanie Pelkey mourns for her husband Capt. Michael Jon Pelkey","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:22","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:22","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/2-pelkey-192.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/2-pelkey-192.jpg"}},{"id":193824,"heading":"Various symbols represent known faiths of those killed","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/3-symbols-273.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/3-symbols-273.jpg"}},{"id":193825,"heading":"Volunteers align every cross","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/4-rows-186.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/4-rows-186.jpg"}},{"id":193826,"heading":"Vistor scans the faces of those killed in Iraq","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/5-faces-349.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/5-faces-349.jpg"}},{"id":193827,"heading":"Memorial for Marine L\/Cpl Shane Swanberg","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/6-swanberg-209.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/6-swanberg-209.jpg"}},{"id":193828,"heading":"Vets for Peace volunteer listens to a vistors question","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:23","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/7-volunteer-333.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/7-volunteer-333.jpg"}},{"id":193829,"heading":"Corporal Jonathan Castro","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/8-castro-300.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/8-castro-300.jpg"}},{"id":193830,"heading":"655,000+ Iraqis killed","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/9-vfp-iraqis-266.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/9-vfp-iraqis-266.jpg"}},{"id":193831,"heading":"Volunteers erect walkway memorial of names. Set up begins before 4am every Sunday","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/10-installation-223.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/10-installation-223.jpg"}},{"id":193832,"heading":"Marine L\/Cpl John Holmason","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/11-holmason-211.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/11-holmason-211.jpg"}},{"id":193833,"heading":"Family of Staff Sgt Rob Sweeny add his name, flowers, and party beads to a cross","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/12-sweeny-312.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/12-sweeny-312.jpg"}},{"id":193834,"heading":"12 coffins represent the previous weeks U.S. death toll in Iraq","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/13-coffins-242.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/13-coffins-242.jpg"}},{"id":193835,"heading":"Stefanie Pelkey mourns for her husband Capt. Michael Jon Pelkey","article":"","author":"Jeff Paterson","parent_id":193822,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","modified":"2007-02-21 18:44:24","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/14-pelkey-280.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2007\/02\/14-pelkey-280.jpg"}}],"comments":[]}