Tombstone display
Lawn in downtown Philadelphia across from the Liberty Bell
Memorial Day weekend 2008
Very
beginning of setting them all up. We were restricted to using the lawn
in back of the sidewalk that stretches from the street all the way to
the middle entrance of the Independence Visitor Center. The tombstones
are all small wooden slabs affixed with a photo of a dead US
serviceperson and a quick set of facts about them.
Marking
out where the tombstones would be. The careful measuring pays off when
we see the final product with its neat rows and columns.
It's all too easy for people to hear the number 4081 (The latest count of US military deaths as of May 24th as per http://icasualties.org/oif/
) and to have a very clean, abstract picture of that many casualties.
We're hoping to bring it all a little more "home" to people. To make it
all a bit more real.
A particular tombstone is located.
And yes, we have many more tombstones than we have room for. As far back as they all stretch, we could put even more in.
Of
course, what would really make our day would be for us to be able to
pay for it all. Please send $20, $30, whatever you can afford, to:
Dr Jon Bjornson
6904 Wissahickon Ave #3
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Naturally, some families stop by and personalize the tombstone of their family member. 
