Red blooms of courage
Roses hold memories of soldiers who didn't return
Jim Sheeler, Rocky Mountain News
Published May 27, 2006 at midnight
Decades after he left the battlefield, Jim Dill looked out at the tight green rosebuds where he still keeps the war.
They will soon blossom deep, scarlet red.
"With the red bloom, there's something synonymous about it that the red field depicts the bloodshed," the 66-year-old said, as he looked at the 80 new rosebushes he and his son, Paul, will oversee at the Colorado Veterans Monument west of the state Capitol.
In the blooms, the Vietnam veteran sees the friends who died in the war decades ago, and the troops lost in the past few years.
He doesn't talk openly about the war, he said. He speaks through the roses. This Memorial Day, he's hoping plenty will listen.
"This is a thorny plant that pricks your conscience," he said.
Following today's annual Memorial Day Parade , families of troops killed in action will gather near the new rosebushes at the monument, in one of many events to honor Colorado's veterans.
For Terry Cooper, mother of Thomas Slocum, the first Coloradan killed in Iraq, each of the gatherings carries its own poignancy. For Cooper, this Memorial Day began early Friday at the site of the Colorado Freedom Memorial - a massive monument planned near Airport Boulevard and Alameda Drive near Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.
The sweeping Colorado Freedom Memorial, which is in the fundraising stage, would display the names of all Colorado veterans killed in action dating back to the Spanish-American War.
Organizers of the memorial are asking anyone who knows someone killed or missing in action to bring mementos to the site and place them in a "field of honor," which will be guarded all weekend.
On Friday, Cooper brought a pair of combat boots and helmet presented to her by her son's unit.
"The people who know me personally have been touched by (Tommy's death), but what we need to do is bring in the people who haven't had the personal contact," she said, "and get them to feel the same way."
Today, Cooper will ride in the Veterans Day parade that begins at 10 a.m., then will join dozens of family members of those killed in action at the Colorado Veterans Monument near the Capitol.
There, Jim Dill said, he hopes the roses will speak for them all.
"These will last for many, many years," he said. "It all depends on how you take care of them. If you forget them, they'll forget you."
sheelerj@RockyMountainNews.com
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