Man's personal memorial to 3,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq

Описание: (1 Jan 2007)
1. Various of men placing white crosses in the sand
2. US flag at the front, beach with crosses in the background
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Stephen Sherrill, Memorial Volunteer:
"I remember the very day. I was on a peace march on our Main Street in town and the numbers for that morning were 287. I was absolutely horrified and appalled that we had lost 287 of our kids over there in Iraq. It didn't seem to me that the American people were mindful of the terrible price we have paid."
4. More of people placing crosses, one for each US soldier killed in Iraq
5. Man arriving at the beach with more crosses
6. US flags waving near the crosses
7. Close-up of personal details of soldier killed in Iraq
8. Crosses with pictures and personal details of soldiers killed in Iraq
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) No name given, Volunteer:
"Incredibly moving and so sad how many lives have been lost in this war. I am a teacher so as I look at these kids, there just kids, they're 20 years old."
10. Wide of crosses
11. Man placing flags near crosses
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) No name given, Volunteer:
"I am sure at first the people here didn't think it would go to three thousand. I am not sure it won't even double."
13. More of man placing crosses on the sand
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) No name given, Volunteer:
"It is extremely sad, it is extremely difficult for me to come down and see this because it reminds me so much of Vietnam."
15. Pan of the beach full of white crosses
STORYLINE:
A memorial was erected on Santa Barbara beach in California on Sunday, to commemorate the death of all the US soldiers killed in Iraq, whose number has reached 3,000.
The white crosses, each with a small American flag at its base and some decorated with photographs of the fallen, recall the gravestones of Arlington National Cemetery in a place usually reserved for sunbathers and tourists.
The carpet of white crosses is laid out every Sunday on a beach in Santa Barbara.
Stephen Sherrill is part of a small group of volunteers, who, each week, gather to place crosses on an acre of sand in memory of the fallen.
Each week they return to place their handmade wooden crosses in the sand.
For more than three years the beach front field of crosses has grown.
It started in November 2003 when sponsors of the cross memorial - Veterans for Peace - decided it was time to mark the service and sacrifice of US forces in Iraq.
That first Sunday began with 340 crosses.
As of December 2006, the number stood at more than two-thousand-nine hundred, and counting.
It takes this group of about two-dozen volunteers more than three hours to set up the crosses.
At the end of the day, they're taken down and stored away.
Now the toll of war is taking its toll on these volunteers, both emotionally and physically.
Sherrill and other volunteers said they'll stop adding crosses as the grim total in Iraq hits three-thousand.
Organisers agreed the tribute in the sand will go on with its three thousand crosses, and no more.

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