Posted on 08/16/2005 2:57:19 PM PDT by Inspectorette
Mom of fallen airman calls cross memorials insulting
The mother of a Lompoc Air Force officer killed in Iraq is demanding that crosses bearing her son's name be removed from Santa Barbara's Arlington West memorial and from an impromptu display outside President Bush's Texas ranch, where the mother of another fallen soldier sits in vigil.
Debbie Argel Bastian, who last week watched as Capt. Derek Argel's remains were buried along with four of his comrades at Arlington National Cemetery, says the other memorials are an insult to her son's memory.
"They have erected crosses out there, and Derek is out there," Mrs. Bastian said of the weekly beach display in Santa Barbara and the smaller memorial in Texas. "I'm livid about it. Derek would not want to be remembered that way."
But the group that organized the ever growing display of crosses at West Beach, the local chapter of Veterans for Peace, intends to keep his cross at Arlington West.
The dispute about the cross and the controversy swirling around the antiwar protests near the president's ranch reflect the heightened domestic debate about the decision to go to war and the question of when to bring the troops home.
Capt. Argel, 28, was killed Memorial Day in a plane crash while on a training mission northwest of Baghdad. The former Cabrillo High School water polo star and Air Force Academy graduate had been promoted the day of his death, and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan and Iraq as a special tactics officer.
Virtually every weekend since Veterans Day 2003, volunteers with the Santa Barbara chapter of Veterans for Peace have erected in the sand near Stearns Wharf a display of crosses representing U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. The memorial has received international attention, and has been replicated in towns around the nation.
It is not, the organizers say, an antiwar statement. Instead, the crosses -- each bearing the name of a fallen service member -- are meant to "make the consequences of war real, and to allow people to express their grief, respect and thoughts."
Though she has not seen the Santa Barbara display, Mrs. Bastian, who is visiting Derek's widow, Wendy, and baby son, Logan, in Florida, said her son was already memorialized with full military honors, both in Arlington and in Lompoc. The displays at the beach and in Texas are an antiwar statement, she said.
She and Wendy Argel believe the memorials send a "wrong message" to the troops still fighting in Iraq, whom they believe would be demoralized by the sight.
"Wendy and I are politely and formally asking that Derek's cross be removed from their potter's field," Mrs. Bastian said. "The cross has significant meaning for our family. I want it removed."
While the Lompoc mother's grief has turned to anger, a Vacaville mother has become the face of the antiwar movement, gaining international attention as a "peace mom" for her week-long demonstration near President Bush's Texas ranch, a crusade she vows will continue despite counter-rallies and threats. Cindy Sheehan's son, 24-year-old Casey, was killed in Iraq in April 2004, and she is seeking a face-to-face meeting with the president to ask for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
"I feel sorry for Ms. Sheehan and her loss, but she can memorialize her son -- nobody else's -- in her own way," Mrs. Bastian said.
She thinks Mrs. Sheehan's protest is out-of-line in a time of war.
"I am not asking for an audience with the president," she countered. "My son was the first lady's escort over there (in Iraq). I think the whole thing is way out of proportion and is disrespectful to my son's memory. It's my son, and in my opinion, they don't have the right to use his name unless they have permission from our family.
"There is only one Arlington in my book."
Capt. Argel's cross on West Beach, now one of more than 1,800, has already received visits from at least three people, said Veterans for Peace member Lane Anderson. Each time someone visits a cross, a small gold star is affixed to the marker.
The Arlington West display carries nothing that could be construed as "antiwar," Mr. Anderson said.
"It's a demonstration of the cost of war," he said. "We hope it's increasing public awareness. It's not antiwar. If that (idea) happens, it happens inside their own perception. There's nothing out there that shows that."
As long as a soldier's name is on the Department of Defense list of war dead, his or her name will be erected on a cross, Mr. Anderson said. A family member, he added, "doesn't have that call" as to whether a name is listed.
One other mother, Linda Bryant of Riverside County, has asked that her son's cross be removed. But, said Mr. Anderson, after noting that a number of Army 2nd Lt. Todd Bryant's fellow soldiers had visited his cross, it has not been removed.
"We're stuck with whether to remove it, or have her understand that his comrades want to honor him," he explained. "We left it out there."
Another family, with Jewish heritage, asked the veterans not to put a Star of David on their son's marker, so his site would be the same as his fellow soldiers and he wouldn't be singled out from the rows of crosses.
Many soldiers who visit will never be able to go to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Mr. Anderson said. "We owe them a courtesy to give them a place to go."
He conceded, however, that in deference to Mrs. Bastian's request, Capt. Argel's cross may be moved out of the front row, where it is placed alongside crosses for of four other local men killed in Iraq.
"I hope she comes to ours," Mr. Anderson said of Capt. Argel's mother. "I hope that seeing the three visits on the cross and realizing Derek's comrades are coming and paying respects to him" changes her mind.
But in her mind, Derek Argel would be anguished to know his name was attached to anything remotely critical of Mr. Bush, Mrs. Bastian said.
"Derek is never, was never, will never, be about insulting the president of the United States or being part of an antiwar campaign," Mrs. Bastian said. "It is insulting to have his name up there among people who chose to do that."
This brave airman was from Lompoc, California, a very patriotic city just outside Vandenberg Air Force Base.
God bless Captain Argel and his family, who are the very definition of class and dignity, as opposed to the odious Cindy Sheehan.
Ventura County Ping!
Bump!
send this to AP and see what they do with it. Wanna Bet?
Is she objected to the crosses because her son was Jewish or something or is it because she doesn't like it being used without her permission?
These anti-war folks think everything they do is sacred and sanctified. I'm waiting for the angels to come down and carry them into the heavens. It'll make great video.
The Jewish family that asked not to be named requested a cross instead of a Star of David for their son because they didn't want him singled out.
Send in Larry Northern with his pick-up truck. He will take it down.
These people dont give a damn about the families they just want to use the crosses of these heroic servicemen for their own agenda.
Bastards.
She is objecting because her son would not want to be associated with the anti Bush anti crowd
If I'd found my relative's name on a cross out there without my permission someone would have been slapped hard. The nerve of those monsters. CS spits on her son's grave every day she's out there, and now she's doing the same with each of the other crosses.
Not many moms would. I can only think of one.
With every outrageous comment she makes, she seems to age a years...at this rate...
Yeah, really. I'd send it to Hannity, but I'm not sure if the Argel family would appreciate too much publicity.
It is monumentally offensive for a group of peaceniks who care only about damaging these United States to pretend to give a good GD about fallen heroes. Actually I can not think of anything more sickening.
I really hate how the MSM refers to her as "Gold Star Mother". The Gold Star Mother Association of America has completely disassociated their organization from this loon.
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