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."
Knock the one down in Santa Monica too.
"If I'd found my relative's name on a cross out there without my permission someone would have been slapped hard."
A crowd of mothers (and wives) like Mrs. Bastian really need to go out and teach Axis Cindy and her moonbats some manners, but most are probably too well-mannered and classy to get in that clod's face and tell her where to step off.
Santa Barbara = Santa Monica North. Santa Barbara is the snooty, elitist city that drags down the rest of the county. The two other largest cities, Lompoc and Santa Maria, are thankfully quite conservative (notwithstanding the idiot jury that acquitted Michael Jackson :-(
"CNN was going to cover this, but a virus took out their network..."
Leftist Coward Flu Virus?
"There is only one Arlington in my book."
Amen and God bless the fallen.
One word to the peace groups: Disrespectful.
Why is it that these clowns can put their crosses where they wish but if a christian group did the same thing the ACLU would be there like stink on poop.
Twilight Zone moral relativism ping. They want to compare their cynical little ditch display to ARLINGTON??
Not only the ACLU. This is the People's Republic of Santa Barbara that wanted to charge the USS Ronald Reagan $30,000 in docking fees when it visits the city this week.
THis is the same city council that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on all kinds of celebrations: Old Fiesta Days, Summer Solstice (big parade of wackos), etc.
Not only the ACLU. This is the People's Republic of Santa Barbara that wanted to charge the USS Ronald Reagan $30,000 in docking fees when it visits the city this week.
THis is the same city council that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on all kinds of celebrations: Old Fiesta Days, Summer Solstice (big parade of wackos), etc.
How many stories of Sheehan dishonoring other parents' children without permission have surfaced?
I've read about 2 thus far.
That's genius.
Can anyone prove that all the deceased were truly christian?
The ACLU should be there for those incensed by Sheehan's claim that they all "must be" christian, merely by association.
She just assumed that part.
You might be interested in this article re: the guy that ran over the crosses
Agreed. She'd be carrying her teeth home in a baggie.
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