Vigils in November 2023

[Brian]

When there were no parking spaces available on the street, Anni and I knew to expect more packs of pedestrians and frozen yogurt eaters when we got to the corner for this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, where the temperature was 78 degrees.  Although vehicle traffic was light, we got more than our usual share of exuberant waves, peace signs, thumbs up, peaceful shouts and honks per capita from drivers and passengers, with many open windows.  Some are familiar faces we see every week.

Eleven peaceniks turned out, which was also our average weekly attendance in October.  In order of appearance:  Roberta, Anni, me, Jeanne and Simon, Dennis, Russell, Bruce, Jim, Mike and Frannie.

As a reminder, we stand on the northwest corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue near the Vietnam War memorial in Montrose, CA 91020 every Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. without regard to the weather or holidays -- we haven't missed a vigil since January 2006. Please stop by sometime if you can.

Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen in our many ongoing military operations around the world.  About 2,500 troops remain in Iraq and 900 in Syria with countless more troops operating in Africa.  The Pentagon reported no uniformed U.S. casualties in the previous seven days.

[Brian]

I brought our old digital camera to the vigil on November 3, the last Friday before the end of Daylight Saving Time:

[Brian]

On a chilly evening with light foot and wheel traffic, nine of the peaceniks who turned out for this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil forgot about our usual parting time of 7 p.m. and wound up talking in groups of three about peace, government policy, events of the past week and personal stuff for another 15 minutes before Russell looked at his watch and noticed the time.

This was the first of four months of vigils conducted entirely in the dark of standard time, so I forgot the candles.  Still, we had a formidable presence for nearly two hours.  The dozen participants, in order of appearance:  Roberta, Anni, me, Russell, Jeanne, Nancy, Jim, Frannie, Bruce, Barb, Mike and Dennis.

We also stood in honor of the passing of an American service member for the first time since May. We taped a large-type printout of last Saturday's Defense Department news release, which is linked below, on the utility pole not far from the Vietnam War memorial. Stars and Stripes has more information about the soldier who died in "a non-combat related incident" in Qatar. A total of approximately 89 non-hostile U.S. casualties have occurred in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System -- presumably most if not all of them would still be alive if they had not been deployed to the Middle East.

www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3580261/dod-identifies-army-casualty/

Friday was observed by many as Veterans Day with various closures and long weekends, although the official federal holiday is today.  Yet I will always regard November 11 by its original designation as Armistice Day.  If you're reading this before 11:11 a.m. Saturday, consider joining some of us peaceniks on the corner -- it started with this thread:

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/thread/1486/armistice-day-11-23

[Roberta]

Yearning for peace and looking forward to next week with you. Distracted:))):

www.facebook.com/765120245/posts/pfbid029YCJayT2FeMazTgRPioj7WE9PizYDezdN2cAMjRP4eE2jZYP2ZoVcuGpxRhX6haxl/

[Brian]

Long-range weather forecasts said it would rain on this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, but the promised storm was delayed until late in the evening, I can now confirm.  Traffic on the corner was even lighter than last week.

Yet we had another solid turnout -- 11 demonstrators.  Halfway through the vigil, a couple crossing Honolulu approached Anni and asked if they could hold signs with us.  Turns out that Robin and Selma, who stayed until the end, knew Dennis from a local tennis club where he used to play, though I don't think they'd seen him before they chose signs from Anni's bag.  This week's participants, in order of appearance:  Anni, me, Dennis, Jeanne, Frannie, Nancy, Mike, Jim, Mary, Robin and Selma.

You no doubt heard about the five Special Operations soldiers who died last week in an apparently accidental helicopter crash in the Mediterranean during "routine flight training." The Pentagon usually does not issue news releases about unnamed operations like the heavy U.S. military presence offshore of Gaza, Israel and Lebanon currently, and I do not remember ever seeing a DoD casualty report about an aircraft crash or any other kind of accident in training exercises. We printed Monday's news release and posted it on the utility pole throughout the vigil:

www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3586557/dod-identifies-army-soldiers-killed-in-helicopter-crash/

[Brian]

In an annual tradition except for the years under pandemic restrictions, the shopping park association conducted its Christmas tree lighting ceremony during this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil with the singing of carols followed by machines spewing soap bubbles meant to resemble snow, providing another great turnout for the merchants and the community.  An antique Glendale fire truck topped by Christmas lights blocked Honolulu Avenue across the intersection from us, but road traffic was light on the holiday weekend.  The festivities brought a lot of new people to the intersection, many of whom came over to talk with us including Glendale Mayor Dan Brotman, a wonderful guy who would be my favorite currently serving city leader if I didn't live in Los Angeles with Karen Bass.

A slightly smaller than usual cast of regulars came to the corner: Roberta, Anni, me, Russell, John the Realtor, Jeanne, Jim, Nancy and Frannie, in order of appearance.  Remarkably, those same peaceniks also attended the vigil last year the day after Thanksgiving, except for John replacing Mike, who was absent this week.  Overall, 17 people participated in vigils in November.  My weekly census:

• Nov. 3 - 11
• Nov. 10 - 12
• Nov. 17 - 11
• Nov. 24 - 9

This month's weekly average rounds up to 11 participants, the same as October, after averaging 9 in September and August, 11 in July and June, 12 in May, 13 in April, 12 in March, 10 in February, 12 in January, and 11 in December and November 2022.

In the previous seven days, the Department of Defense reported no military deaths in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria or in any of the other named U.S. operations underway around the world.

Our Peace Train will roll for the 12th time in the Montrose Christmas Parade next Saturday, December 2 -- check this out and consider marching with us:

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/thread/1485/peace-train-montrose-christmas-parade