War Dead
Here's another letter to the editor that was published in the New London Day on Sunday, November 13, 2005 (the version in the Day was slightly edited to make it a bit shorter).


Letter to the Editor:

On November 7th, the Day published a letter entitled "Day's Coverage Of War Protest Went Overboard." The writer erroneously inferred that our gathering in front of Rep. Simmons office on November 1st was a "fringe protest" that was largely ignored.

For the record, our group was made up of folks from all walks of life including, among others, farmers, social workers, engineers, teachers, musicians and also at least half a dozen clergy from a wide variety of mainstream religions.

Also, we were far from "ignored" in that most passing cars honked and gave thumbs-up signs of encouragement and support. Many people walking by took our fliers and stopped to discuss their own frustrations over this current war. Rep. Simmons staff respectfully received some of our clergy and later the congressman, himself, responded to our group with a personal letter.

It should be noted that similar efforts were occurring throughout the state at the offices of our other members of Congress. As such, our efforts were hardly what you would call "fringe" or "ignored." It was also totally inappropriate to fault the Day's coverage as some sort of left-wing conspiracy to create news.

Though our numbers on that Tuesday workday were around two dozen, it is essential that the names of each man and woman who has died be publicly witnessed. We, as a society, must remember that these were real people, not just cold, impersonal numbers lumped together to be quickly forgotten. Even if there is only one person standing on some street corner reading those names, we must honor of our war dead and treasure their memories.

I assure you that if any person would take the time to read even a portion of those names out loud, that you would be forever changed by the magnitude of real loss that these fine folks have left for families, friends and neighbors all across our country.

The writer of the November 7th letter also speculated that he could easily assemble 60 people from the Submarine base for a "Support the Troops" rally. If he were to actually do that, we would not only respect his efforts, but would encourage such a rally to be in the true spirit of American democracy. In turn, I would hope that, in hindsight, he will also respect our right to support our troops in our own way.

Douglas Wray

Note: Mr. Wray worked as an engineer at the Submarine Base for 31 years before retiring five years ago.