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The war at home

Veterans Day 2007

For more than six years, America has been at war.

Soldiers have returned home from combat. Recruits have signed up to fight. And others have stayed behind to be the messengers when one falls.

For many, the effects of the war have been felt most at the gas pump. It has helped elect politicians, kept the national deficit growing and increased the ties between the world of academics and the institution of the military.

Children have folded flags for soldiers. Motorcyclists, many veterans among them, have stood guard as families mourn. And others spend every Saturday at noon protesting the war.

For families of soldiers, the impact is far greater: a yearlong absence from a parent, spouse or child. For the unfortunate, it is a lifetime of separation.

For Veterans Day 2007, the Journal-World takes a look at how the war has touched us all.

In depth
War's toll: invisible scars

The wounds of war are not always visible. Lawrence resident ...

Messengers of war
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
For the casualty notification officers at Fort Riley, the mission starts with a phone call and doesn’t end until they knock on the door and tell the family that their loved one has died.
Weekly peace vigils in Lawrence
November 11, 2007
In the beginning, people came by the hundreds. Now, the weekly peace vigil draws a few dozen attendees.
KU, Fort Leavenworth ties strengthen
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
The interaction that has sprung up between KU and Fort Leavenworth since the Iraq war is far removed from the university’s days of protests and firebombs during the Vietnam War era.
How high will it go?
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
The prices posted on gas station signs across Lawrence have gone up by more than 70 percent since the war in Iraq started.
Ready to serve
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
Destiny Boutchee is among the 250 people who have enlisted out of the Lawrence Army recruiting office since 2003.
Home sweet home
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
Matt Jordon has been away from home for half of the couple’s seven-year relationship. First it was to Bosnia and then to Iraq.
Military action fattens deficit
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
Lawrence’s tab for the Iraq war: $93.7 million. Kansas’s share: $3.6 billion.
Changing political colors
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
The dissatisfaction with the Iraq war helped turn Congress from red to blue last year, but it hasn’t done much for major policy shifts abroad or at home.
Patriot Guard rides to rescue of veterans’ families
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
In the past two years, the Patriot Guard has grown from an idea hatched by American Legion Riders in the small south-central Kansas town of Mulvane to a fixture at the funerals of fallen soldiers throughout the country.
KU ROTC honors veterans
University cadets hold a 24-hour vigil at the campus’ war memorials
By Alex Parker
November 11, 2007
The view facing north on Kansas University’s Memorial Drive is a peaceful scene, overlooking a patchwork of red, orange and yellow-leafed trees and the algae-trimmed water of Potter Lake. But panning across the serenity of the hill, a more violent picture develops. The winding road leads past a collection of memorials honoring KU’s veterans of the wars in Vietnam and Korea, and World Wars I and II.
A tour to remember
Some vets already thinking about Iraq war memorial
By Terry Rombeck
November 11, 2007
Sometimes, around the American Legion Post in Lawrence, talk turns to what would be an appropriate memorial to remember those who have died in the latest conflict in Iraq.
Training for an uncertain future
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
Since the war started, ROTC focus on leadership has remained unchanged. But some things are different.
Thirteen folds
By Christine Metz
November 11, 2007
They have a stack of 150 flags to fold. It’s one of the many activities the American Legion Auxiliary has put together to support troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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