More than 1,500 pairs of military boots and 1,500 pairs of shoes, all hauntingly empty, will line the grass of a downtown park this weekend in memory of U.S. military and Iraqi civilian casualties in Iraq.
The exhibit, which has toured 45 U.S. cities, makes its only Arizona stop in Tucson this weekend at Armory Park, at East 12th Street between South Fifth Avenue and South Sixth Avenue.
The display, which is on tour through April, is a project of the American Friends Service Committee, an international Quaker organization that opposes all war.
However, the exhibit is not intended to be an anti-war statement, said Melanie Emerson, program director for the AFSC Arizona Area Program.
"It's a memorial," Emerson said. "People feel it's important to honor (these people's) sacrifice right away and not wait 30 years like we did for Vietnam."
An Associated Press report yesterday put the number of U.S. military casualties in Iraq at more than 1,500.
When the "Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War" exhibit was unveiled in January 2004 in Chicago, it included 504 boots, each tagged with the name of a U.S. military serviceman or servicewoman killed in Iraq.
As the number of casualties increased, so has the size of the exhibit, and the boots and civilian shoes now make up a 12,000-square-foot display, Emerson said.
Since there is less data available about the number of Iraqi civilian casualties, the number of civilian shoes stays at 1,500, though the actual death toll has been estimated between 20,000 and 100,000 by some counts, Emerson said.
Patrick O'Brien, one of about 200 volunteers helping to coordinate the exhibit in Tucson, said he hopes the display brings the effects of the war closer to home.
O'Brien, an interdisciplinary studies junior, said he thinks Americans have been too distanced from the images of war since the media was banned in 1991 from showing images of flag-draped coffins arriving home from overseas.
"This (exhibit) is a way to visualize how many (people) have been lost and realize the human cost of war," O'Brien said.
While some critics of the exhibit in other cities have called it an anti-war demonstration, O'Brien said he expects the Tucson response to be mostly positive.
"It's really a time to put aside your political beliefs and honor the people who have made this sacrifice," he said.
Between 20 and 30 student and faculty volunteers from various UA departments will assist with the setup of the exhibit and read the names of the deceased aloud, Emerson said.
The exhibit will also include a temporary wall listing the known names of deceased Iraqi civilians and an indoor multimedia display about the history and costs of war at the
Armory Park Senior Center, 220 S. Fifth Ave., Emerson said.
Emerson said she expects between 2,000 and 3,000 people to visit the free exhibit, which runs Saturday and Sunday and will feature guest speakers, including family members of deceased U.S. soldiers.
For a list of speakers and events related to the exhibit, visit www.afsc.org/az.