Thursday, May 31, 2007

Wall of Remembrance


"War is horrible, but sitting by while evil persists is worse." ~SGT Gabriel DeRoo

This Memorial Day was a very special one for all of us. It was the first Memorial Day since Gabe was killed in Iraq this last August. Even though I always knew what Memorial Day was for it never had the same effect on me as it did this year.

Early Monday morning, in downtown Seattle, Gabe's name was unveiled along with 27 others who have died in Iraq from Washington State. Of course Hannah and little Gabriel were there and Gabe's twin sisters Charity and Chastity. They had come to visit Hannah and little Gabriel for a week. After the names were unveiled each name was read and a bell was rung after each name.

It was so wonderful to be there and to see Gabe honored in this way. In one interview Hannah said she knew he would be honored to know his name had been put on the wall. After the ceremony was over Hannah took little Gabriel and put a picture of the three of them, with flowers, by the wall. Gabriel had a t-shirt on with a picture of Gabe in Iraq and it said "My Papa, My Hero-KIA in Iraq August 2006.

Hannah spoke to a couple reporters and one woman who was making a documentary. Here is the link to one of the interviews done with Hannah.







Here is video I took of the ceremony. Remember to pause my finetune player located under my previous entries so the audio does not overlap! :)

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3 comments:

Katherine Hall said...

Really neat Annie. I'm glad you and Rue were able to go. You've been such a good friend to Hannah. (Looking forward to having Daisy tomorrow night!)

Katherine Hall said...

That pic of Gabriel with the rose is so cute.

Ruhiyyih Rose said...

So glad that you got to go to that, Annie. I saw the clip from the news, it was so moving. Thanks for sharing these pictures!