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Iraq vet continues effort this weekend to walk laps around State Capitol
NEWS ADVISORY
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Contact: Cres Vellucci, Veterans for Peace, 916/996-9170
ATTN: WEEKEND NEWS DESK
Iraq vet continues effort this weekend to walk
laps around State Capitol representing U.S.
troops killed in war; 1,200+ completed
SACRAMENTO – A lone Iraq War veteran – now joined by scores of supporters – marked the 1,200th loop around the State Capitol here Friday night, representing the "remembrance" of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.
The effort – which began at 8 a.m. on Monday/Memorial Day – continues this weekend with throngs of supporters also walking laps for Americans killed in Iraq.
(Note: The action runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The "base camp" is at 12th & L Streets)
The exhausted veteran of the Iraq War plans to complete laps for all 3,464 U.S. killed by next week. Late Wednesday, he finished doing laps for all 362 California victims of the war after three 24-hour days of making rounds without a night in bed.
The Sacramento area veteran – who has asked to remain anonymous because he wants the focus on his fallen comrades not him – has now agreed to let other veterans, parents of troops now in Iraq and others opposed to the war join him and log laps for the dead.
Others have joined him, including joggers passing by, and those who have heard of the walk. Each person walking a lap reads a card with personal information about the war casualty, and then posts a yellow ribbon on a growing "Memorial Wall."
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