Symbols of Sacrifice

Arlington West a stark reminder of lives lost

By Rob Varela,
rvarela@VenturaCountyStar.com
March 20, 2006
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Rob Varela / Star staff

During a recent visit to the Arlington West memorial, Army Sgt. Trinidad Rangel of Oxnard visits the crosses of two soldiers he knew who were killed in Iraq. Rangel had just returned from Iraq after his second tour of duty.
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Sunday morning, on the eve of the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, 2,315 small white wooden crosses were to be set up again in neat rows just west of Stearn's Wharf in Santa Barbara.
Each cross bears a placard with the name, rank, hometown and cause of death of American military personnel who have fallen since the U.S. invasion and occupation began three years ago.
Taking up three-quarters of an acre of sand, the temporary war memorial has been set up Sunday mornings by members of the Santa Barbara Veterans For Peace and other volunteers and taken down every afternoon. It is called Arlington West, after the national cemetery with rows and rows of similar markers that is the burial place of the unknown soldier and President Kennedy.
The local memorial is the brainchild of longtime antiwar activist Stephen Sherrill, a semi-retired carpenter and member of the Santa Barbara VFP chapter. Sherrill made the original 340 wooden crosses used when the memorial was first displayed on Nov. 2, 2003, six months into the war.
It was meant originally as a one-time display, but the overwhelming response motivated VFP members to continue the display weekly. Crosses have been added as the number of war casualties grows. A flag flies permanently at half-staff as taps is played over a loudspeaker nonstop.
Vietnam veteran Michael Cervantes, 56, of Oxnard, president of the Ventura County VFP chapter, has helped set the memorial up and staff it most Sundays since December 2003. Cervantes has first-hand knowledge of the effects of war. Drafted at 20, he served in the Army infantry in Vietnam for a year. Two point men were killed while his squad of 24 soldiers was on patrol, and Cervantes had to harness up one of the men as he was airlifted out. He has seen what his generation had to go through; he doesn't want it to happen to the next.
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Rob Varela / Star staff

A flag flies at half-staff as taps is played at the Arlington West memorial on the beach just west of Stearn's Wharf in Santa Barbara. The temporary memorial is styled after the national cemetery in Virginia and was set up by members of Veterans For Peace.

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He has watched countless veterans and family members visit the crosses in Santa Barbara. Some leave mementos — stuffed toys, pictures, dog tags and flowers to decorate the barren crosses. Recently, he stood nearby, ready to offer words of encouragement to Army Sgt. Trinidad Rangel of Oxnard, who visited while on leave after returning from his second tour of duty in Iraq. An obviously emotional Rangel visited the crosses of two soldiers from his company. Soldiers like Rangel come to honor buddies and pay last respects. They continue to fight while their comrades returned home under an American flag.
Arlington West is intended to be a place to mourn, reflect, grieve and meditate, a place to honor and acknowledge those who have lost their lives, and to reflect upon the costs of war. Critics say it is no more than a war protest, but Sherrill and VFP members maintain that it is an alternative to impersonal casualty reports on the nightly news and that the crosses are simply a way to honor fallen heroes who did their duty.
As for Cervantes, he said he hopes that Arlington West will be "put out of business" for good, which will happen when the war ends. He said he hopes that he and fellow VFP members can leave the sands of the beach clear, much as it is after the water washes away any footprints.
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"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."