By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Nearly 7,000 boots are lined up in a field in Providence for the Memorial Day weekend, each with a small American flag and a tag remembering a U.S. service member who died in the ‘war on terror’ since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
“It’s a way to just remind people how much has been sacrificed in the longest war in U.S. history,” said Erik Wallin, Executive Director of Operation Stand Down, which organized the display.
In a brief but solemn ceremony Friday morning, politicians stood off to the side as names were read aloud of 29 Rhode Islanders who died in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
For each, a bell was rung, and families of the fallen carried a pair of desert boots adorned with a flag and tag to form a circle at the front of the ranks of boots and flags at the Temple to Music in Roger Williams Park in Providence.
“A pair of desert boots is placed around the Rhode Island flag and will stay on display there through Memorial Day,” said Dick August of North Kingstown. His son, Army Captain Matthew August died in Iraq in 2004.
“So it is a special recognition of those who have a connection to Rhode Island who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
