Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Brooks Askew) When you lose a 19-year-old son or daughter,
it's a really sad day.
(narrator) Army Captain Brooks Askew walks the grounds
of his church, Peachtree Road United Methodist,
looking for a name among these ribbons.
(Brooks Askew) I had a job as a Casualty Notification Officer
to inform a family that their son had been killed in Iraq.
When you actually see the ceremony with the guys bringing
the casket off the plane, it's a very surreal moment.
(narrator) The 6400 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq
and Afghanistan are honored at the Prayers for Peace memorial.
(David Metzner) The gold ribbon represents the soldiers
that have lost their lives.
Attached to each is a dog tag.
The blue ribbons represent praying for peace for the people
of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The green ribbon represents prayers for peace,
prayers for peace for everyone for our lives
that God's peace may be with us.
(narrator) More than 750 Atlanta volunteers created this memorial
on the church's front lawn.
It's similar to one in New York City.
(*** Dietz) I've actually hung a lot of the ribbons.
I would read the age and some of them were just 18.
You know that their parents thought so much about how they
named their child and then you think about the loss that
they've had, the loss we've all had.
(narrator) The project continues to remind the congregation
of the soldiers' sacrifices.
(Susan Marshall) We read the names, the ranks, and the ages
of all of these servicemen and women as they die each week and
I think that the congregation has found that it makes this war,
these wars, a reality for each of us.
(narrator) Church members will contact the families of
fallen soldiers to let them know prayers have been said and
a dog tag has been hung in tribute to each soldier.
(Frost Osborne) It's so impactful. And it makes me
tear up every time I think about the sacrifice that these ribbons
represent and the opportunity we've had to put together
a tangible representation of prayer.
(Brooks Askew) We've been at this for 10 years now and
a lot of people have grown cold to the fact that
men and women are still dying.
Stuff like this actually makes it more real.