Civilian casualties of Iraq war noted

On a day when Americans honor the sacrifices made by soldiers, dozens of musicians gathered on Boston's City Hall Plaza for a Memorial Day tribute to civilians killed in Iraq.

Around 70 performers with wind, percussion, or string instruments formed a circle and sounded notes for each of the war's civilian casualties -- a high note for a child, a medium note for a woman, and a low note for a man. They hoped to play between 21,000 and 25,000 notes, which correspond with the latest casualty estimates reported by IraqBodyCount.com.

''The civilian deaths are not taken into account and rarely reported," said Nancy Adams, director of Mobius Artists Group, which organized the event. ''We're trying to take note of all the casualties of war."

The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., estimates about 8,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the start of the war in March 2003. That number does not include the Iraqi civilians killed during major combat operations between March 19, 2003, and April 30, 2003.

The hourlong performance of ''Collateral Damage Noted" was conceived by Tom Plsek, who chairs the brass department at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Plsek said his ''sound meditation exercise" is not meant to serve as an antiwar statement.

''It's designed to look at humanity as a whole and all the lives that are lost in war," he said. ''I think it was very appropriate for [Memorial Day]."

Also yesterday, a memorial for American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was dedicated in a courtyard behind the Old North Church in the North End.

The memorial has more than 1,000 homemade crosses and stars of David that bear the names and home states of fallen soldiers, including David Connolly, a Boston prosecutor and Army reservist from the North End who was killed in a helicopter crash last month in Afghanistan.

''We do this to remember," said the Rev. Patricia Handloss of the Old North Church. ''It is important we never forget what our young men and women are doing, not for us but for the world."

The crowd in the courtyard included Michael Martin, an Army National Guard communications specialist who has been serving in Iraq since October.

Martin, 26, was granted emergency leave this week to return to Massachusetts and tend to his sick daughter.

Martin said his service in Iraq has given him a new outlook on Memorial Day.

''I just hope for the best for all my buddies over there," he said.