| STONEWALK
USA 1999: SHERBORN, MA to ARLINGTON, VA
PRESS ARTICLES
The Boston Globe
Civilian war memorial impounded
at
'Stonewalk' rally in Washington
By Associated Press, 08/07/99
WASHINGTON - A memorial to civilian war victims stopped short
of its intended resting place yesterday after police impounded
the 2,000-pound tombstone during a rally near Arlington National
Cemetery.
The granite slab, which measures 6 feet
by 4 feet and is engraved with the words ''Unknown Civilians
Killed in Wars,'' left Sherborn, Mass., on July Fourth. The
six-state odyssey ended in the middle of Memorial Bridge, which
crosses the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to the cemetery
The granite
slab, which measures 6 feet by 4 feet and is engraved with
the words ''Unknown Civilians Killed in Wars,'' left Sherborn,
Mass., on July Fourth. The six-state odyssey ended in the
middle of Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River
from the Lincoln Memorial to the cemetery.
''Were we to complete the journey today and
bring it to Arlington, the stone would be discarded, rejected
like the very message it embodies,'' said Lewis Randa, the
''Stonewalk'' director.
Randa arranged for a US Park Police escort,
then impoundment of the memorial, because ''this stone has
no home.'' He promised his group will return for it once Congress
passes a law allowing its erection at Arlington. So far, no
sponsor has come forward.
Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island
was asked to introduce the necessary legislation, but he didn't
feel the group's request was feasible.
''We'd be glad to work with them to make sure
it gets placed in another position of prominence in Washington,
but it's just not going to happen'' in Arlington, said Kennedy
spokesman Larry Berman.
A spokeswoman for the US Park Police said the
stone would remain in a secured lot for a certain period but
would be destroyed if it went unclaimed.
Randa has led about a half-dozen ''stonewalkers''
on a 450-plus-mile trek since leaving Massachusetts. The procession
traveled on secondary roads and highways, picking up and dropping
volunteers from each community along the way. Leading the
walk in Washington were Hugh Thompson and Larry Colburn, two
of three Army soldiers credited with stopping the My Lai massacre
during the Vietnam War.
Randa wants the stone to ultimately rest near
the Tomb of the Unknowns, but officials say that's unlikely.
Arlington National Cemetery was established
as a shrine to those who served in the armed forces, said
Dov Schwartz, a spokesman for the Military District of Washington,
which runs the cemetery.
''The law says that monuments will be accepted
only if they honor those dying in the military service of
the United States,'' Schwartz said.
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