Thursday, 4:30 PM
Students, community remember casualties of war
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
SOMERSET -- Like many people, Merilee Bowers watched the toll of war dead rise each night on the news. She heard the numbers -- 2,000, 3,000 -- but they never seemed fully real. The art teacher at Somerset High School turned to her students. She wanted to know how they felt. Did the numbers have any meaning to them? Could they connect them to men and women with hometowns and families?
Many had cousins, uncles, and neighbors serving in wars abroad. And their responses turned into an idea: to construct totems bearing the name of each service member who has died in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For the next several weeks, they worked in a school hallway, stitching together figures made from materials that Bowers and the students said symbolized comfort -- cloth, buttons, and string. On each one, they stitched a ribbon printed with a service member’s name, rank, and age. As they sewed, each student contemplated the people who had sacrificed their lives. Along the way, they were visited by a mother whose stepson was killed in Iraq and by a National Guard member who served in the war.
The project eventually involved most of the school’s students and teachers, along with community groups like the Girl Scouts and the Ladies Auxiliary club. The result now fills a giant hallway at the school, more than 3,500 3-inch sculptures mounted on netting and displayed in glass cases. On Sunday, the students and teachers plan to formally unveil the work, titled "Remembrance," at a ceremony with parents, veterans, and politicians.
