Memorial Day for peace

Veterans call for peace as they honor Iraq, Afghanistan casualties

There were 96 flowers tossed into Boston Harbor yesterday, one for each of the Massachusetts men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the words of those brought together to honor the fallen soldiers spoke more to the “uncounted casualties” of war, and to the merits of peace.

“Make this experience, make this day something very personal,” said Pat Scanlon of Veterans for Peace, one of roughly 100 anti-war activists who met in Christopher Columbus Park for a solemn Memorial Day event.

The ceremony, in its second year, honors not only the American soldiers feted at events nationwide but also the countless number of killed civilians in war-torn lands and those Americans who return from overseas conflicts to their own private hell.

Among those left off government lists of war casualties is Iraq veteran Jeff Lucey, who hung himself in his parent’s Belchertown home as a result of emotional war wounds that his parents say were ignored, and ultimately untreated.

“He died alone after serving his country,” said Joyce Lucey, Jeff’s mother. “My son did not choose to suffer, the system failed him.”

The night before the Marine took his own life, Jeff Lucey, at the age of 23, asked his father to cradle him. For 45 minutes they rocked in silence.

The description of that moment brought tears to many on hand who had learned of another victim of war.