The September 11th attack
Military families sending lei to Pentagon
By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Messages of love, hope and condolence in the form of a giant lei are being sent from military families in Hawai'i to families that suffered losses during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon last week.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Parents, teachers and students are putting together the 500-foot lei with hand-made paper flowers containing personal messages to the families from people at Schofield.
Jesshae Olds, 10, and her brother Christopher Bookman, 7, write messages on paper flowers for a lei that HawaiÎi military families will send to the Pentagon.
Melanie Twomey, wife of Col. Andrew Twomey, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light) and U.S. Army, Hawai'i, organized the project and said the families were looking for some way to express their grief. She got the idea for the lei from a similar project at her son's school.
"Last week everybody in this entire country was shocked, saddened and hurt by the horrible occurrence," Twomey said. "Many people came up to me and said 'I want to do something but don't know what to do.' They felt lost. Not only does this help us to feel like we are doing something — maybe it can help others by bringing others comfort."
More than 6,000 red, white and blue paper flowers were taken to memorial services and several schools on and off base where messages were written to Pentagon families. Some messages call for peace; others share grief and display courage.
"Send us," reads one flower. "We're ready."
Kimberly Thomas, 13, daughter of Sgt. Maj. Michael Thomas of the 84th Engineer Battalion, volunteered to work on the project, helping to make and string together the paper flowers for the lei.
"It's really, really long," said Thomas, an eighth-grader who is homeschooled.
"I wrote that I'm praying for the people that lost their loved ones. I want them to know we care about them and our hearts really go out to them."
Twomey said the lei will be sent to the Pentagon and addressed to Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, and his wife, Patty, with a letter from Scho-
field's commander, Maj. Gen. James Dubik. and his wife, Sharon Basso, asking that the lei be placed somewhere for everyone to see.
"Even though we are in Hawai'i, we are there in spirit," said Twomey, who lost a friend in the attack. "The messages are from our hearts. Some wrote about people they knew that have passed, some to their friends working in the Pentagon, and some wrote saying God bless America.
"We just want to say we love you and stand united. It is the least we can do. It is such a minor token in this whole thing."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 988-1383.
