If you are in Portland this Sunday, please join this remarkable event to drum at noon to encourage the US to sign the treaty to ban cluster bombs. Bring your drums - ALL percussion welcome!
Ban cluster bombs, says mother of killed Marine
A mother whose Marine son was killed by a bomblet from a U.S.
cluster bomb in Iraq will lead a demonstration to ban the munitions
on Sunday, Aug. 1.
"Travis John" - A Song for Peace
Lynn Bradach is inviting drummers "of every type and talent"
to Portland's Peace Park Aug. 1 as part of an international
demonstration. She has traveled extensively to stop the use of
cluster bombs since her son Cpl. Travis Bradach-Nall, 21, was killed
during a munitions-clearing operation on July 2, 2003.
One hundred six countries signed an international convention to
limit and eventually ban cluster bombs and 37 have ratified the
agreement. The United States has not.
Travis Bradach-Nall was a Northeast Portland native who attended
Grant High. He was a drummer, singer and writer when he joined the
Marines in 2000.
On Sunday, Grant Remington, president of Veterans for Peace,
Chapter 72, will sing "Travis John" - a song about Bradach-Nall. Kate Power of
Portland wrote the song about her young neighbor. It won a grand
prize at the 2006 Kerrville Folk Festival and inspired a ballet for
the Oregon Ballet Theater. The piece was also recorded in a Hood
River studio Travis helped build with his uncle.
Peace Memorial Park is at the East end of the Steel Bridge, N.E.
Interstate and Oregon. Organizers will gather at 11:30 a.m. with
remarks and playing at noon. For more information, email
info@vfpchapter72.org or www.stopclustermunitions.org. - Julie
Sullivan, The Oregonian
Peace,
