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Arlington South at Naples Pier is protest free
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Arlington South Memorial Day ceremony
The Arlington South Memorial Day ceremony was held near the Naples Pier on Monday, May 26, 2008.
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The woman reading the names of fallen soldiers in Iraq could barely be heard Monday above the festive din at the beach north of the Naples Pier.
The field of hundreds of short, white wooden crosses stretching for 150 feet down the beach was impossible to miss.
Army veteran John Riccio calls it Arlington South — “Remembering Lives Lost in Iraq,” the banner said — and he and his band of volunteers have been erecting it every Memorial Day since 2004.
They’re getting pretty good at it, planting almost 800 crosses in the sand in neat rows in 1 1/2 hours Monday compared to the usual 2 1/2 hours.
“We’re way ahead of schedule,” Riccio, 69, said Monday morning as the beach was only starting to draw the Memorial Day crowd.
The display goes up on the anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq and on Veterans Day, too, but along with signs protesting the war. Not on Memorial Day, he said.
“On Memorial Day, it’s for the veterans,” Riccio said, standing on the beach with a bundle of small flags in his hand. “My personal feelings are always anti-this-war. I just don’t show anything (on Memorial Day) that this is a protest. This is not a protest.”
The display, situated facing the busy pier, needed no anti-war chants to draw attention.
The crosses were laid out in 44 rows; each row had 17 crosses. Each cross is hand-painted with the name and age of a serviceman or servicewoman killed in Iraq.
As the death toll has mounted, Riccio has begun erecting red crosses, each representing 100 deaths. There’s 33 of those.
A sprig of plastic flowers — red, orange, yellow, purple or white — rested at the base of each cross. Miniature U.S. flags were attached to the crosses with rubber bands or planted in the sand behind them. Full-size flags flew at half-mast from poles around the edge of the display.
After he got complaints that the crosses might misrepresent the religions of the dead, Riccio taped signs depicting a six-pointed star, for Jews, and a crescent, for Muslims, over two of the crosses.
In front of the field of crosses, posters listed the names of Florida’s war dead and tallied the numbers of Iraq war fatalities from each U.S. state.
Photos of anonymous families grieving at military funerals were arranged on another set of posters.
In the middle of the posters, volunteers took turns standing at a podium to read the names of the 4,081 U.S. military men and women killed in Iraq — a roll call that took more than four hours.
Riccio, who has two sons deployed in Iraq, said the display is meant to demonstrate the cost of war and to mourn dead soldiers.
“Yep, mourn and grieve,” Riccio said. “It’s sad. It’s just too sad.”
The field of crosses got the attention of Greg Johnson, 46, out for a walk on the beach Monday morning with his wife, Jackie.
Johnson said he had mixed feelings about the war in Iraq but felt the fallen troops would not appreciate the organizers’ anti-war positions.
“I don’t think those kids would want their names on those signs,” Johnson said.
Craig Clarke, 30, called the display respectful and an eye-opener.
“It’s a memorial,” he said. “It’s Memorial Day weekend. These people should be remembered I think.”
One who was remembered Monday is Army Spc. Richard Burress, 25, of Naples.
In front of the podium, Burress’ family left flowers and a framed message with a picture of Burress as a child and a picture, date stamped December 2007, standing amid a group of smiling Iraqi children.
Burress was killed in January 2008 in Iraq when a roadside bomb blew up his armored vehicle.
“Richard Burress spent many hours of his life enjoying these white sand beaches,” the message read. “Put the politics aside and remember him today.”
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God bless you, John Riccio.
#1 Posted by sheenabella on May 26, 2008 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey Sheena, we are use to reading your foul mouth blogs! What happened, nothing nice to say?
#2 Posted by upnorth on May 26, 2008 at 9:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To sum up, let the dead bury the dead.
#3 Posted by sancho on May 26, 2008 at 11:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I respect John Riccio and agree with most of his letters and publicity.
I really don't care what it will cost me, but I will vote for the candidate who will take our troops out of Iraq. This confrontation should end, since it's really not a war. Unwinnable, by any definition.
What I do have a big problem with is the naming of "Arlington South". To desecrate the real Arlington with sub-division terms, pays disrespect to those who gave their lives.
While John likes to call it Arlington South, what happens if another patriot in Key West decides to do the same thing? Do we now have Arlington South-South?
Arlington Phase II?
Thank you for what you have done, Mr. Riccio. But to compare your beach ceremony to Arlington National is uncomfortable for me.
#4 Posted by volochine on May 27, 2008 at 1:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The word PATRIOT and riccio should never be in the same sentence.
Hey riccio, why don't you come down to the VFW and have a talk with me and some of the guys?
#5 Posted by truth on May 27, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Riccio is a vet himself and has two sons serving in Iraq; that's enough cred for me.
Why does anyone have a problem with him memorializing the fallen on Memorial Day?
#6 Posted by beachykeen on May 27, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a saying among Vietnam Vets. "You can walk the walk, but can you talk the talk?" Meaning you can walk like a combat vet, but can you really talk the talk of a combat veteran. The things you say in the stories you tell will really tell the truth. Ricco wears the 101st Airborne patch, I didn't see a Combat Infantry Badge, the true sign of the ultimate Army combat veteran, but that doesn't mean he hasn't suffered heartbreak and pain of war.
To his critics I say. What did you do to honor the fallen yesterday?
www.deltaraiders.com
www.blackied2501.com
#7 Posted by deltaraider21 on May 27, 2008 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
After visiting military cemeteries in Europe and Arlington just to name a few, I will never disrespect any veteran who fought for our country. Each visit was very emotional. Each individual will come away with many different feelings after such a visit. These men and women who served and died the past few years deserve our recognition forever and Mr. Riccio and his volunteers should be commended for making so many people stop and think about the ultimate sacrifice our young people have made. Also, please remember those who came home with life altering wounds.
#8 Posted by flahill on May 27, 2008 at 11:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
JaggedSoldier et al.: I was there, I helped erect the crosses and placed flowers into the sand. John Riccio clearly let the volunteers know that Memorial Day is strictly Memorial Day, no protesting, no political signs etc. I believe you and bloggers who think like you are the ones politicizing the event.
PAZ (PEACE)
#9 Posted by Angela_Cisneros on May 28, 2008 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, Angela, for not using the name, Arlington, in your post.
#10 Posted by volochine on May 29, 2008 at 2:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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