Eyes Wide Open-Too Many Shoes left Unfilled

In a lush green field in Grant Park along Lake Michigan, a Memorial Day event was held as part of a traveling memorial to U.S. Service personnel killed in Iraq called “Eyes Wide Open,” comprised of over 3400 combat boots with the name, age and state of the Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Marine or Coast Guardsman killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

The boots are lined up in perfect rows, sectioned off by state, in a similar fashion as many military cemeteries. Indeed the memorial is reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery, with its neat rows of white marble head stones.

The memorial was a somber, less enthusiastic affair than the traditional parade that was held only a few blocks away, with its marching bands, marshal music and cheering crowds.

Several groups representing families of military personnel, both killed and currently serving organized the program. These groups consisted of Gold Star Families Speak Out, whose loved ones died as a result of the war in Iraq; Military Families Speak Out, whose loved ones are currently deployed, soon to deploy, or have returned from Iraq physically and/or psychologically damaged as well as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War who have served in Iraq.

Two Gold Star Mothers, mothers whose son or daughter has died in combat, told their stories of loss and pain, and one decorated Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD spoke about going off to war only to be disillusioned and coming back home unable to re-enter society.

The goal of the organizers of “Eyes Wide Open” is to honor the dead American and Iraqis while ending the War in Iraq and bringing home safely the U.S. Service Personnel.

The refrain heard from all of the speakers was the need for a better understanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and improved care for returning veterans.

One mother described how her son returned from Iraq only to hang himself in the basement, from what she says was severe PTSD and the lack of recognition and care from the United States Military.

Darrell Anderson, who saw combat in Iraq, spoke about the conditions that contributed to his suffering from PTSD, that you lose yourself in war, that when one of your friends gets blown up in front of you “All you feel is hate.”

He spoke about the feeling of confusion when he first arrived in Iraq and the veteran soldiers told him they were not fighting for democracy and freedom “and all that stuff,” which made it difficult to reconcile within himself his actions in combat.

Furthermore, Mr. Anderson is concerned for people like himself who went AWOL and received less than an honorable discharge from the military, thus being denied medical or therapeutic care from the Veterans Administration. Or the ones who commit suicide from PTSD, whose boots Mr. Anderson says, will not be added to this memorial because they will not have died from combat related injuries.

As the service ended and a light rain fell, a poem from the great British World War One poet Siegfried Sassoon was read below a statue of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.