[Mb-hair] FW:Exhibit aims to bring home human costs of Iraq conflict

[Little Birdie]

I wonder what made them choose the title for this exhibit?

"Our eyes are open, our eyes are open....Wide, wide, wide........"

Nina

The Hair Archives
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Daily Hampshire Gazette
Exhibit aims to bring home human costs of Iraq conflict
By NICK GRABBE Staff Writer


AMHERST - Kevin English of Amherst was close to tears as he walked past 908 
pairs of black combat boots, each bearing the name of a U.S. soldier killed 
in Iraq.

I find it seriously moving, said English, a Vietnam veteran. ''It's not a 
protest; it's a fitting memorial for those who have died.''

The exhibit on the town common Tuesday also included 1,000 pairs of shoes 
placed in concentric circles, a memorial to Iraqi civilians killed in the 
war. Called ''Eyes Wide Open,'' the exhibit also included a 10-minute video 
on justifications for the war, photographs of Iraqi civilians, and a 
sculpture of 10,000 bullets molded into a plowshare, a biblical reference 
symbolizing peace.

Elaine Mishkind of Amherst said the combat boots, arrayed in 31 rows of 29 
boots each, resembled a graveyard. ''It puts a human face on the war,'' she 
said.

The exhibit is scheduled to be at the Easthampton Library Thursday from 8 
a.m. to 7 p.m. and at St. Mary's Church in Northampton Monday from noon to 
8:30 p.m.

A Belchertown couple whose son committed suicide six weeks ago, about a year 
after returning from Iraq, addressed about 200 people on the Amherst common 
Tuesday night. They added his boots to the display.

''The horrific evils of war ate away at his humanity,'' said Kevin Lucey. He 
called his son Jeffrey ''an uncounted casualty of the war'' and said there 
are many like him.

''He extended his hand for help, but he didn't reach soon enough or far 
enough,'' he said. ''These boots may represent a number or a statistic, but 
to us they represent souls, smiles, laughter, tears, hopes and dreams of 
lives ended far too soon, of lives unfulfilled.''

Joyce Lucey said the boots show the emotional cost of war. She said many 
soldiers come home with demons that society must confront.

Her son was not prepared for the horrors of war, she said. ''His humanity 
was in conflict with what he had to do,'' she said.

His sisters, Kelly and Debbie, read from their brother's letters from Iraq. 
A hat Jeffrey Lucey wore there was affixed to a display of photographs 
showing him at different stages of his life, including his time in Iraq.

Karen Hurd of Florence, the mother of a soldier who returned from Iraq in 
February, read a letter he wrote shortly after his captain was killed. ''As 
we look at war, we must remember that there are no winners,'' she said.

Al Miller of Leverett, a Vietnam veteran, said all people who die in war 
send out vibrations to those who knew them.

''I'm afraid to tell you what the cost of war is and that it never goes away 
and we can't seem to change the direction,'' he said.

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe at gazettenet.com.
Copyright Daily Hamshire Gazette

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