Category Archives: Memorial Mile

Memorial Mile 2022 ~ Olbrich Park & Atwood Ave ~

This time of the year, those of us involved with Veterans for Peace, believe it is important to recognize the significant loss of lives that our nation [and the world] have experienced. We may have borders, but we are also a part of this world. Understanding our loss may be a step in changing our ways. Having empathy for the loss of others is another step towards change and progress.

In a few hours, we placed around 7,000 simulated grave markers. Although, the early risers may have been putting down the design as early as 6am, who knows.  I was sleeping at that time.

“Donuts, coffee, peanuts, soda and wonderful conversation made the job…”  – Tom Glassel

“Great photos, Tom!  Great, hard-working volunteers!  So well organized – excellent work early on by John, Phil, Jeff, and Steve: Bravo!  And we made a very good connection with the local press: photographer Kayla Wolf of the Wisconsin State Journal.  Excellent conversations and outreach with the public.  Two of my students (2nd and 4th graders) brought their Mom to walk the Mile, and will report to their classes.
Onwards!  Peace!  Larry

 

“Volunteers gathered at Olbrich Park on Saturday to help Veterans for Peace Chapter #25 set up the Memorial Mile.

Over the past two years, the long stretch of tombstones that are placed to remind people of the worst cost of war could not be set up because of COVID-19.

On Saturday though, with the community’s help, the Memorial Mile made its return.”

Link to article and video….

Channel 3 News: Memorial Mile makes return to Madison ahead of Memorial Day

 

 

Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a day for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces.

 

 

Help Promote Peace ~ Memorial Mile ~ Memorial Day Observance

Opportunity to volunteer in Madison, Sat. May 28th, starting at 9 am for a couple hours: You can help Veterans for Peace Chapter #25 set up the “Memorial Mile” along Atwood Avenue in Olbrich Park.

Because of COVID, for the past two years, we were unable to install the long stretch of tombstones, which we have created as a remembrance of one of the worst costs of war. We find the world today in a hazardous state and believe it is important to again install the Memorial Mile as a reminder of the costs of war, particularly when use of nuclear weapons is now “on the table”.

 

Do you think you might be able to assist with the Memorial Mile this year? Let us know as soon as you can.  Let us know if you can bring friends.

 

Please respond to John at

[email protected]gmail.com

 

Volunteers are critical to installation of the 6,000+ tombstones (Photo by Paul McMahon)

Cancellation: Memorial Mile and Memorial Day Peace Rally 2020

Due to the virus and surrounding precautions, Veterans for Peace-Madison has collectively decided to cancel our annual events for Memorial Day.

Music provided by Sean Michael Dargan

 

Memorial Day Peace Rally 

Gates of Heaven Synagogue

James Madison Park, Madison

 

 

Memorial Mile

Thousands of markers signifying the US military lives lost since 2001

 

The Mile – Video

 

 

Memorial Day Peace Rally

When: Monday, May 28 – 1:00 PM

Where : Gates of Heaven 302 E. Gorham St., Madison WI – James Madison Park

Speaker: Author and Historian, Alfred W. McCoy

Momentous changes resulting from U.S. hegemony in the world will be described during this May 28 peace rally – sponsored by Chapter 25 Veterans For Peace in Madison.

The program at Gates of Heaven will include an invocation by priest, former Madison police chief, and Veterans For Peace (VFP) member David Couper. Student scholarship winners will be noted, the band Old Cool will perform, and Progressive magazine publisher Norman Stockwell will describe a recent visit to Viet Nam. Bagpipe dirges by Sean Michael Dargan will end the Peace Rally program. Audience members will receive red carnations to place at the nearby Abraham Lincoln Brigade marker in James Madison Park. Veterans for Peace Chapter 25 namesake Clarence Kailin was a volunteer in the Lincoln Brigade fighting fascism in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

Main speaker McCoy’s expertise is widely recognized to include U.S. foreign policy, colonial empires in Southeast Asia, illicit drug trafficking, CIA covert operations and modern Philippine history. He will draw upon his most recent book, In the Shadows of the American Century, to explain the effect of declining U.S. hegemony on the world.

McCoy holds the Harrington Chair in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of numerous books, including The Politics of Heroin (New York, 2003), A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror (New York, 2006), Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State (Madison, 2009), and, most recently, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power (Chicago, 2017).

Additionally, Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 will be setting up over 6000 tombstone replicas (The Memorial Mile) at Olbrich Park for Memorial Day weekend to remember those who have died in in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The display will be set up on May 26th and taken down on June 2nd.