Photo by Carsen Maciag/The Siskiyou
The flags on SOU property are a part of the Iraq Body Count Exhibit that was placed Saturday by several organizations. Each white flag represents five lives lost of Iraqis and the red flags represent

Covering the Southern Oregon University campus in white with spots of red, more than 120,000 flags were planted on Saturday, April 26 as a memorial to the lives lost in the Iraq war.

Each of the 800 red flags represents five of the 4,050 fallen U.S. soldiers since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Roughly 110,000 white flags visually symbolize the estimated 655,000 Iraqi causalities, with each flag representing five lives.

The flags are part of the Iraq Body Count Exhibit and will be on display until May 3.

"The exhibit is powerful because it is apolitical. The sheer number of the flags really speaks for itself. We are simply presenting the reality of the war," said Danny Moffat, event organizer and SOU Students for Truth club president.

Nearly 100 volunteers gathered in front of Churchill Hall, some arriving as early as 9 a.m., to set up the display.

"There was phenomenal turnout. The number of Ashland community volunteers per capita is much higher than the turnout when the exhibit has visited universities in larger cities," said Rudy Dietz, the Iraq Body Count Exhibit national coordinator.

Located on the SOU campus, the body count exhibit is a community-based event sponsored by Peace House, the South Mountain Society of Friends, Medford Citizens for Peace and Justice, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, SOU Students for Truth and the SOU Sociology Club. Although a majority of the volunteers staking flags belonged to a sponsoring organization, other volunteers were simply interested in participating.

"I was driving by and thought, 'Wow, I have to flag some flags,'" said Karin Kitely of Ashland.

"Four thousand of our young have died. This is the least we can do to remember them," said Larry Wright, a Vietnam War veteran from Talent.

The Iraq Body Count Exhibit is a nonprofit organization currently seeking donations to purchase more flags. Their goal is to have enough flags for a one flag per one dead ratio when the exhibit visits Washington D.C in the fall of 2008.

"There are enough red flags to represent each fallen U.S. solider," said Bill Ashworth, South Mountain Society of Friends exhibit organizer. "But we chose to keep the ratio of one flag per five dead consistent with the fallen Iraqis."

"This is an educational display," said Dietz. "We can only benefit from people knowing the true human cost of war."

Volunteers are needed to pull all 120,000 flags on May 3 in front of SOU’s Churchill Hall. For more information, please visit www.iraqbodycountexhibit.org.