Moving Symbol Of War's Horrors
August 14, 2004
By JOSH KOVNER, Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- When the beautifully crafted wagon carrying the stone memorial to civilian victims of war and terror had been stowed for the night, Catherine Allison explained what drew her to Stonewalk.

She is one of a core group of 10, including a Buddhist monk and nun, that is pulling the 1,400-pound stone on a rubber-wheeled caisson from Boston to New York. The group entered Killingly from Rhode Island Aug. 7 and has been tracing a southerly route. Friday evening, after spending the day in Portland, the walkers stopped in Middletown for a gathering at South Church and to spend the night.

Allison's aunt, Anna Allison, 48, of Shoreham, Mass., was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The gifted founder of a software company was on Flight 11, the first airplane to smash into the World Trade Center towers.

As she grieved, Catherine Allison became part of Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, co-sponsor of Stonewalk with The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Mass.

"I realized the Sept. 11 families were not the first to feel this pain," she said as she walked across South Green to the church in a light, persistent rain. "People around the world have been killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I'm doing this work to help raise awareness. I don't want other families to have to go through what the 9/11 families did," said Allison, 23, a music major at Hunter College in New York City.

She said the walk "has been physically and emotionally hard. But it's been a great opportunity for healing, and to connect with others on the way. It has been an amazing experience."

About 18 people pulled the wagon down Main Street behind a police escort. A driver sat in the open, wood-paneled cab and operated a steering wheel and brake. The great stone, engraved with the words, "Unknown Civilians Killed in War," lay in the bed of the wagon. The American Flag and the flag of the United Nations flew on poles. The Buddhists chanted. A group of walkers followed, carrying handcrafted doves on poles.

At the church, Mayor Domenique Thornton welcomed the walkers and wished them peace and safe passage. Activists spoke of the human toll of war.

"I feel very moved and would not want to be anyplace else today," Marcia Morris, Connecticut director of the American Friends Service Committee, told the walkers at the church. "Those of you who are doing the walk, are doing it for all of us."