Too emotional for me
To the Editor:

It really didn't matter who was behind our effort. We only had a small sign telling our Identification, and was in the rear of the truck pulling our float. It was really a joint effort by a lot of people that truly respected what our service men and women have given for our freedom. It was an idea that sort of boomeranged.

We had very little money and we wanted (at least) to make an effort to support Memorial Day and its meaning. Being retired, I volunteered my time; along with many others and we went from there. We decided to try and emphasize what our men and women are doing for us (since 911) in Afghanistan and Iraq. By searching the web, I found that at the time that we started on this project 104 service people, from Georgia alone, had died for our freedom in those countries. Since there is no standing memorial yet for this conflict, we wanted some way to bring attention to those who have given their lives for our freedom.

We came up with the idea of displaying each fallen hero's name, much like we did on our Christmas tree at our Georgia Technical School. We thought of displaying stars on a map of Georgia to signify each that was lost, but that would be hard to explain. We narrowed our idea down to placing each name on a separate sign, and having volunteers carry them be hind our float. The problem was how do we get that many people to participate?

We went for broke, as we felt all things work out in the end anyway. It took days to make the signs, and the float only came together on the last day. It was simple wi th a large white cross and a box built up off the trailer bed, where we displayed a sign on each side that said "Honor Georgia's fallen heroes," and the back of the box was suppose to have a sign that said "Support our troops." In the center of the box w e placed a cutout of an M-16 rifle, (barrel down) with a helmet and dog tags hanging from the butt of the gun. Beside the gun was a pair of GI boots that were worn in Iraq. Chuck Honaker guaranteed us the dirt on them came from Iraq. It was a simple display, but this idea is a form of respect used by our service men for their own.

On the morning of the parade we had asked for people to meet an hour before the parade, so we would have a better idea of how we would proceed if we had "No shows". The House of Prayer Church group started arriving first. For a time I was worried, but as I looked around, there were people coming from everywhere. The Christian Motorcycle Association started coming in, and added to our numbers.

There were people of all age groups from about five, to one gentleman from the "Greatest Generation" that said he was honored and considered it a privilege to carry one of the names. Even a handicapped girl drove her scooter and brought up the rear with a name that I fastened to her basket. I don't know if she understood the significance of the day, but as I was fastening the sign on her scooter, she bent over and kissed me on the cheek.

Patrick Reutter, an Iraq soldier home on leave, knelt in prayer in front of the cross th rough the whole parade, giving the display even more significance.

With the luck of the draw, our float was placed right behind the bagpipe band and it gave this impressive possession of names even more reverence. My place in line was behind my two granddaughters and their friends, and we were about 6 rows back in a line that was several hundred feet long. What I noticed was that the expressions on the peoples' faces started to change about the time I reached their point. You could almost read their mind as they were asking themselves, "What are all these names?," and then as their expression changed some would stand put their hand over their heart, or start to clap with reverence, some saluted and a lot removed their hats. A lot of tears were flowing along with mine as the whole day was very emotional to me. I guess it started when the masses of volunteers started to arrive and my pride in my fellow man increased. Then I discovered the soldier was the son of a woman we had known when she was a child. The next thing that got to me was when I discovered that Donna Towery had changed the message that was supposed to go on the back of our box display. Instead of just "Support our Troops" it now said "Land of the free, Because of the Brave." I guess the whole project started to effect me when I was sorting through all the young people in the US that have given their lives for us, as I was trying to find just the Georgia names. It was more dramatic for all their pictures were there also.

The little things that I knew (that couldn't be known by the crowd), all added up and played on my emotions. One lady has arthritis in her knee and went and had a shot so she could carry a sign. Or the lady walking just behind the float (Debbie) was the mother of the soldier kneeling on the float. She was carrying the name of her son's best friend who was killed in the war. That her other two sons were carrying names also. That Chuck Honaker was carrying the name Bobby Franklin. A man that who was his friend, who died beside him in a bombing in Iraq that also injured Chuck. That Chuck's mother was also carrying a name. That I was carrying two freshly made signs representing those that had died just the day before, bringing the total to 106.

I'm from the Korean era, and it sure brought back memories for me. I would love to hear the memories from the gentleman from the World War Two era. Maybe just getting old effects your emotions and makes you cry; but for sure I was crying through most of that parade, (ashamed that my old body gave out near the end). But that was one day I was proud to be an American.

Sonny Boyer