East Valley Tribune June 17, 2008
Woman covers fence with ribbons for soldiers
By Steven Falkenhagen
Large numbers are difficult to imagine, especially when it comes to war fatalities. Marcia Stewart of Scottsdale and her friends and family are bringing those numbers home by covering a chain-link fence adjacent to her home with yellow ribbons, one for every American soldier killed in the Iraq war.
The fence faces 52nd Street at Emile Zola Road, two blocks south of Thunderbird Road.
Currently there are about 2,500 ribbons on the fence. The total of war dead in Iraq as of Tuesday is 4,069, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
The ribbons contain the first name and the age of the soldier who was killed. Stewart said she chose to exclude the last names because it made the process easier and she didn’t want to get too personal.
Some ribbons are labeled “unknown” or “pending notification of kin,” which are casualties that the Department of Defense have been unable to identify.
“There are actually quite a few unknowns, which is even sadder because not only are these people going voluntarily, they don’t have a family that is readily available to be recognized,” Stewart said.
Stewart said that all the ribbons have been made, and her goal is to have all the ribbons on the fence by July 4.
Once the project is finished, she intends to keep them on the fence until the war is over.
She said that she didn’t want to wait to begin her effort until there is no longer a U.S. presence in Iraq, because that will take “forever.”
Stewart said that the ribbons’ yellow color is a symbol of wanting the soldiers to come home.
Stewart said she started the ribbon project in May after attending the memorial service of a friend of her son. The friend had been killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
She said she was so moved by the service that she went out that night and bought yellow ribbons to begin her project.
Stewart said her children have experienced compassion through their involvement in the project.
“They really connect when they see their own names on the ribbons,” Stewart said.
Another of Stewart’s children, Logan, 11, expressed empathy.
“I feel sad and bad about all the people who have died,” Logan said.
Stewart gets the names from this Web site: www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm.
Stewart named two Web sites that people who want to help out United States soldiers in Iraq can visit:
• www.packagesfromhome.org: This local organization is solely dedicated to sending care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq at no cost to them.
• http://soldiersangels.org: This organization is involved in sending items to Iraq, ranging from letters to money.
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