Note: This article was originally published on Nov. 9, 2003. We’re re-posting it now for our tribute to Colorado’s Fallen.
Colorado Springs – Venus Mejia’s front door, yard and car are
festooned with yellow ribbons. They’ll still be there long after
her husband returns from Iraq.
They’ll be there as long as any U.S. troops remain in Iraq, she
said Saturday as she watched Colorado Springs’ Veterans Day
parade.
Saturday’s parade drew as many as 35,000 people – not so much as a
celebration, but as a show of solidarity from a community touched
as hard as any in America by the ongoing battle in Iraq.
Airport processionals followed by funerals are part of the routine
now at nearby Fort Carson, home to 26 of the nearly 400 U.S. troops
who have been killed in Iraq.
Mejia’s husband watched as his friend’s body was placed in a body
bag when Staff Sgt. Jose L. Mejia’s unit took its first fatality
back in May.
Then a week ago Venus Mejia’s close friend Tiffany Bader lost her
husband in Iraq. A funeral for Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader is scheduled
for 11 a.m. Monday in Fountain.
Bader was one of four Fort Carson soldiers to die when a helicopter
they boarded came under attack near Fallujah. A total of 16
soldiers died in the attack, making the Nov. 2 shootdown the single
deadliest attack against U.S. soldiers since the war began.
“That’s why I’m here,” Mejia said as she wiped a tear just
moments before the parade began.
This year’s parade was meant to highlight Vietnam veterans, but
Iraq was on everyone’s mind.
Most Vietnam vets didn’t come home to parades three decades ago.
Saturday was their chance, said John Lamerson, a Vietnam veteran
who is the president of the organization that puts on the annual
parade. “This is the welcome home that the Vietnam vets never
had,” Lamerson said.
But as the parade wound past, the talk in the crowd was of Iraq –
and how best to support soldiers there while wishing they were
home.
“I feel like we are right being over there, but you hate to see
all the people die,” said Shauna Kogel. “It’s a no-win situation
for us, but I feel like it is something that we have to do.”
At least 35 GIs with ties to Colorado have died in the war.
“Every time that you hear that something has happened over there,
your heart just plummets right to your toes,” said Patricia
Carreon, whose brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hill, is in Iraq
with Fort Carson’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. “Even if it is
not your relative, this person is somebody’s brother, sister,
mother or father.”
Saturday’s 90-minute parade was a humble and much-needed reminder
that people care, said Annalisa Hill, Jonathan Hill’s wife.
“It seemed like life has gone on and America went on with their
daily lives,” Hill said.
