Posted on 03/30/2003 1:43:26 AM PST by GailA
Yellow ribbons making a comeback
By JOANN LOVIGLIO Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA - In communities all over, where people have different ideas on the war in Iraq, many are reviving a tradition that was popularized more than two decades ago during the Iran hostage crisis and took hold during the Persian Gulf War.
"Every tree, every sapling, every light pole have yellow ribbons on them," Valley Center, Kan., Mayor James E. "Jet" Truman Jr. said Tuesday. "Our store in town ran out of them. As soon as we get some more (ribbon), we'll be putting more out."
At the nation's largest ribbon manufacturer, extra shifts have been added to keep up with the orders for their 2 3/4-inch embossed yellow ribbon.
"Yellow - by far - is No. 1 right now," said Nancy Schott of Berwick Industries in central Pennsylvania. Though the company declined to disclose any specifics about production, Schott did say that yellow is currently outselling the No. 2 red-white-and-blue striped ribbons 6-to-1.
Retailers Kmart and Wal-Mart said they have seen nationwide increases in the demand for yellow ribbon and American flags. Neither said they were aware of any shortages.
"Based on what we thought was going to happen with increases in demand, we did stock up in advance," Kmart spokesman Dave Karraker said.
In Valley Center, a town of 5,000 people outside Wichita, the war has hit very close to home: Pfc. Patrick Miller, captured in Iraq along with four fellow troops, went to Valley Center High School. After a prayer service Monday, residents made yellow bows and tied them around trees along the town's major streets.
"It's our way showing our support for him, his family and the rest of the troops," Truman said. "I have a son over there, too. It's close to home for many of us."
The war also is close to many in Middletown, Del., a community of 8,000 with several residents stationed in the Middle East, Mayor Kenneth L. Branner Jr. said.
"We made around 300 (bows) and we're making more," he said. "We wanted to have it so anyone coming into town, from any direction, can see them."
Yellow ribbons also adorned the front porch of the Palestine, W.Va., home of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, who was among a dozen soldiers reported missing after a supply convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq.
Nearly 100 people decorated the main thoroughfare with yellow ribbons in Saint Clair, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia; university students in Berkeley, Calif., passed out ribbons during weekend war protests; and Wal-Mart employees in Council Bluffs, Iowa, spent a recent lunch break tying yellow ribbons on every tree in a downtown park.
In Baton Rouge, La., customers streamed into Billy Heroman's flower shop to pick up bags and handfuls of the yellow bows he was offering free of charge. He made several hundred of the bows by hand, and had to order more ribbon as the requests kept coming in.
Some say the origins of the tradition trace back to the Civil War, while others cite news reports about the wife of Bruce Laingen, then-ambassador to Iran, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in her front yard after Laingen and others were taken hostage in 1979.
Whatever the genesis, Branner said the custom helps communities unite and gather strength during times of confusion and grief.
"We didn't do it as a political statement," Branner said. "People have different opinions about the war, but we all want the safe return of our troops and we wanted them to know we support what they're doing."
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