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Freedom Walk marchers remember 9/11, honor military
September 8th, 2008, 10:48 am · 12 Comments · posted by dennis foley
As cars driving by honked in support and a motorcade of cops protected them at intersections, about 100 Orange County residents proudly walked up Glassell Street in a Freedom Walk on Sunday.
Their journey began at Hart Memorial Park and would last a short mile, ending at Chapman University.
But the emotional journey of many began years before and would last a lifetime. Santa Ana resident Nicole Bailey, 27, clearly remembers how distressed she was the morning New York City’s Twin Towers fell on Sept. 11 seven years ago. A family friend of hers was working with the New York Fire Department at the time. With news channels broadcasting footage of the attacks over and over, and phone lines down from the surge of calls, it was difficult to feel anything but helpless. “I prayed the whole day that he would be safe,” Bailey said. “And sure enough he was. But you have to think about all the people who lost their loved one.”
Bailey also has an older brother and a childhood friend in the military, so she walked to support and thank them, she said. Like her, most of the participants have family or friends who enlisted.
Betty Benavides, 27, of Costa Mesa is relieved to have her younger brother, Sgt. Nelson Benavides, recently returned to her. “It’s exciting to have them back,” she said. “We just hope they don’t get called back a second time. But if they do, we’re all in it together.” Nelson Benavides, 24, is also among the Freedom Walkers. Though he wasn’t alive to witness it, the negative response by some to Vietnam veterans inspired him to ensure that this generation of veterans receives more appreciation. “Until everyone comes home, we got to keep supporting,” he said. “We still have boys from (his reserve unit) 314 in Iraq.” His friend and fellow soldier, Specialist Ricky Abitu, believes that public demonstrations like the Freedom Walk serve as important encouragement to deployed troops. “You’re out there and you think no one’s supporting you,” he said. “But they really are, doing things like this.” Walk participants understand the sacrifices that must be made. “I support my son and whatever it takes this country to protect our freedom,” said Maria Plimpton, 50, of Anaheim Hills. “These gentlemen represent our country and we thank them for their service. We’re very proud of them.”
Betty Benavides believes more people should show such pride.
She expressed disappointed that the turnout was far lower than organizers sought. She thinks people tend to forget that American troops are still in combat. “They’re here enjoying themselves and they can say ‘Oh, we support the troops,’ but it’s just a word,” she said. “They don’t really show it.” But the sense of community was strong among those who did show up. Though there were sporadic rallying cries in support of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, the gathering mostly was about supporting freedom, those who are fighting for it and those who have died for it.
“We need to remember them for the rest of our lives,” urged John Baker, a scout leader for Troop 170. “Not just today, not next year, not in ten years, we need to remember them every day.”
– Rachelle Yeung
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There are so many things wrong with taking a day and/or an event to remember 9/11 that I can’t even get into it right now.
However, supporting troops is always important. Whether you agree with the reasons for which they are fighting or not, their lives are still on the line. I believe the whole war effort was a mistake, but I support the troops to the fullest.
It’s a shame the walk was associated with cries of support for McCain. If you like what Bush has done for the past 8 years, vote McCain. If not, Obama is your man!
I agree with you, I also think that we should alsoo remember all the heros who saved lifes by putting there lives in danger.
Its too bad that even a march in support of the troops begins to resemble a political rally with chants for McCain. I think anything that strays from the idea of supporting the troops weakens the message these people are trying to get across.
I think it’s so great that people do things like this to support for the troops. I think a lot of people forget that we’re in a war just because its not on our soil, but so many people are still losing people they love to this war. More people should do things like this to bring awareness to the community!
It’s sad that people are so caught up their own beliefs about the war that it makes them forget about the people fighting for our country. They should stand as their own separate entity. Support the troops!
Support the troops!
Support the troops please. God Bless the men & women who put their lives on the lines every day for us.
Fighting for freedom and your country? How was Iraq an imminent threat to the USA in the first place? Yes, the troops should be honored, yes I have a lot of respect for the men and women who put themselves at risk every day, but to promote a war that will kill many more American, and Iraqi, civilians just concerns me.
Although on some level I think it is our own narcissism that could lead us to believe that a march miles and miles away from troops can encourage them (i guess this is a sort of “out of sight, out of mind” mentality), I can’t argue with testimony. I suppose that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. So even though peace sells, nobody usually buys. It’s nice to see people supporting their values…but when has it ever been just about that?
Personaly, I agree with the statement about how only saying you support our troops or buy bumper stickers is worthless w/o demonstrating it in some way that can reach the soldiers. It’s not like there’s some official website or news channel that will tally the number of supporting messages made by the public each day, but marches like these make the news and that’s what makes it to the eyes and ears of deployed soldiers.
It’s good to see that some still support the military in such ways; they need it!
Though i strongly disagree with the war, I do believe it is important to support our troops. No matter your opinion on 9/11 or on the war, they risks their lives every day. And maybe marching once in a while allows for headlines that prove a few of us have some kind of concern or general thought for them.