Military community in S. Korea to send
banners of support to New York, D.C.
By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief
Andy Dunaway / Stars and Stripes
Michelle Ann Dee, eighth grade, looks over the banner hanging in the Osan American High
School that will go to the mayor of New York City, showing support from Osan Air Base,
South Korea. The 51st Services Squadron at Osan made the New York and Washington
banners. |
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Hundreds of messages of love, hope
and condolence from the U.S. military community in South Korea soon may be fluttering near
the Pentagon and the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York.
Two 30-foot-long banners embossed with an American eagle were put
together by the community. The banners were created and donated by Osan’s 51st
Services Squadron.
The idea came from Brigitte DeWitt, who works in the squadron’s
marketing office. Her daughter, Jyssica, is a 14-year-old freshman at Osan American High
School.
“After the attacks in the States, she came home saying that
students at the school were looking for ideas to show the firemen, police and others who
are doing the cleanup and families of the victims that they support them,” DeWitt
said. “I told her (the services squadron) has the capability of making banners and
suggested they do that.”
Jyssica took the idea to her teachers. Her mom got approval from the
command.
The banners were brought to the base bowling center over the weekend,
and the signatures and messages started to amass. They also were made available at the
school and at the main Army and Air Force Exchange Service store.
Now covered with literally thousands of messages, they’ll be
sent this weekend to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and to the Pentagon for display near
the attack sites, DeWitt said. “We may send the one for the Pentagon to President
Bush himself,” she added.
Tyler Dixon, journalism and English teacher at the high school, said
students at the school are “as appalled at the attacks as everyone is. I’m
concerned that some of them might suffer post-traumatic stress, but generally they’re
handling it pretty well.
“We stopped class last Friday to listen to the president’s
speech (to Congress) and it affected many of them deeply,” he said.
“They’re adolescents and they’re just learning about life. They see this
impacting on them with all the security measures that have been put in place at the
base.”
He said his students will be sending poems, songs and “a stack
of letters” of support along with the banners. They’ll also include a videotape
of personal messages to people involved in the cleanup operations.
DeWitt said the U.S. attacks caused her children to follow the news
more closely than they did in the past.
“My daughter never listened to a presidential speech before, but
she can tell me everything President Bush said on Friday.”
Osan American High School students “are military kids and they
know the military may have to go and fight. But they strongly support that,” she
said.
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