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Group protests war, honors dead

By Bill Potter, Delaware State News
DOVER - About 350 antiwar protesters marched from Camden Friends Meeting House to Dover Air Force Base, home of the nation's largest military mortuary, Sunday to kick off a two-day anti-war rally that will end in Washington today.

The protest, called The Dover to DC Memorial Procession, includes longtime activists and newcomers.

Central to the event were several parents whose children were killed while serving in Iraq.

Sue Niederer of New Brunswick N.J., Lila Lipscomb of Flint Mich., and Fernando Suarez del Solar of San Diego, all of whom lost children in the war, participated in the march to commemorate Thursday's one-year anniversary of the start of the conflict.

At about noon, U.S. Rep. Charles D. Rangel, D-N.Y., arrived in Camden.

"Somebody has to speak for those who can't speak for themselves," Rep. Rangel said. "Don't feel awkward about speaking up, people all over America are listening."

Laura Barnes, a freshman at Wesley College, said Rep. Rangel was right on target.

"This is really important," she said. "People need to know what is going on."

Ms. Barnes said the Department of Defense policy barring media from viewing the arrival of remains when they arrive at the base was a big reason she was participating.

"The media is being controlled," she said. "That's just what (Saddam Hussein) was doing in Iraq."

Leah Burcat, a senior at Caesar Rodney High School, the local coordinator for the Student Peace Action Network, said she became involved because she felt the current war with Iraq was a tragedy.

"I don't think we should have gone to war preemptively," she said.

Ms. Burcat, one of a handful of young people attending the march, said the lack of youth involvement was troubling.

"It's kind of sad," she said. "A lot of teens are apathetic."

A little after 12:30 p.m., the protesters began organizing for the 31/2-mile trek to the base's North Gate.

A police escort from the Camden and Wyoming police departments controlled traffic as the marchers moved out.

The group moved along Del 10, keeping to the right side of the road.

Along the way, some people driving by honked their horns in support, while others shouted expletives as they passed the protesters.

Opponents to the march lined the road here and there making equally forceful remarks questioning the protesters' patriotism.

Most refused to give their names for publication.

Charlie Judd of Camden had no such hesitation.

"Every soldier has made a choice to go and fight," he said, holding a sign saying, War Is the Answer. "It looks like everyone here has forgotten (the terrorist attacks of Sept, 11, 2001)."

Mr. Judd's fiancée, Erlinda Robertson, had the same opinion.

"They made a choice," she said of the solders. "That's their job."

Others like Darlene Odonnell of Dover pulled over to watch and muse on her own feelings.

"This is awesome," Ms. O'Donnell said. "I wish I could join them."

Ms. O'Donnell said, while she is 100 percent behind the troops, all the killing has her very concerned.

When the crowd came to the base's North Gate, they turned right.

Though never entering the base, they lined the fence along U.S. 113.

Parents of fallen warriors eulogized their children and pledged to try and end the war.

Across the street, Raul Deming of Takoma Park Md., set up a small public address system.

"Do you know who you're marching with?" he asked. "These people are giving the enemy an incentive to kill more soldiers."

This was too much for Ms. Niederer.

She ran across the street toting a poster of her dead son, 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, in his Army blue uniform.

Lt. Dvorin, 24, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, was killed in Iraq last month while trying to disarm a roadside bomb.

"Have you had any children killed?" she shouted at Mr. Deming. "That's a group of good people over there."

"No they're not," he said. "Do you know who you're marching with?

"It's mothers like you who will cause more soldiers to be killed," he told her.

Ms. Niederer, stunned by the comment, bent her head and said, "I'm going back across the street to mourn."

As other parents told of their losses, Mr. Deming continued with his counter demonstration.

Through it all, ribbons on black wreaths whipped in the cold afternoon breeze.

Base spokesman Lt. Col. Jon Anderson watched the proceedings from a distance.

"These people have every right to protest," he said. "That's what I joined the Air Force for and what I went to Iraq for.

"I went so the people of Iraq would have the same right to protest as these people do."

The procession then organized to resemble a funeral motorcade, traveling to Baltimore with headlights blazing.

Event organizer Gordon Clark said the group would spend Sunday night in a Baltimore church before traveling to Washington's Lafayette Park today.

At the park, which is across the street from the White House, the names of service members killed in Iraq will be read.

They will also hold a rally outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where many of the wounded are hospitalized.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Staff writer Bill Potter can be reached at 741-8225 or wpotter@newszap.com.