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Protesters Mourn Family Members Killed in Action

Aired April 18, 2003 - 15:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Well, dozens of families across the United States are in mourning for their loved ones who did not return from the war in Iraq, but some of those mourners are also having an even tougher time. As they grieve, they're having to deal with their opposition to the war.
Here's CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a familiar sight across the country. Two simple yellow ribbons blowing in the wind. Here in Brooklyn, outside the home of Lance Corporal William White.

The funeral service, like the more than 100 funerals for fallen American soldiers. But for some families, one huge difference, they supported the troops, but lost a family member in a war they did not believe in.

RITA RUSSELL, WILLIAM WHITE'S AUNT: We're religious people, right and the Bible teaches that there is a time for war and a time for peace, right? And then we do not believe, did not believe that this was the time for war.

HINOJOSA: Their opposition to this war, they say, has made William's death all the harder to accept, difficult to justify and impossible to explain to his grieving younger brothers.

RUSSELL: If he had went to Afghanistan and had died there, it would have been easier for me, because I understood what happened on September 11. But this?

I want them to find something. I want them to find those weapons.

HINOJOSA: There are others who opposed this war and watch their children fall victim to it.

DOROTHY HALVORSEN, ERIK HALVORSEN'S MOTHER: I still don't know, not Erik.

HINOJOSA: Dorothy Halvorsen in Vermont lost her son, Chief Warrant Officer Eric Halvorsen, in a Black Hawk helicopter crash.

HALVORSEN: I have to think of him as he was doing responsibly what he was asked to do. And for that, I'm proud of him. But I hate the war. He shouldn't have gone.

HINOJOSA: And in Pennsylvania, Ruth Aiken worries she'll lose her military husband or military daughter to a war that already has claimed her son, 31-year-old Captain Tristan Aiken.

RUTH AIKEN, MOTHER OF TRISTAN AIKEN: I think it is wrong to say that because you are opposed to the war that you don't support the troops because you're talking to a mom and a wife that has three involved. And that is not true. I support those troops. I just don't support the cause.

HINOJOSA: All say they are proud of what their children did. They were disciplined, they followed orders, they did their jobs.

But at the home of William White, just photographs and memories and words on a wall, wishing he was still here.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 18, 2003 - 15:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Well, dozens of families across the United States are in mourning for their loved ones who did not return from the war in Iraq, but some of those mourners are also having an even tougher time. As they grieve, they're having to deal with their opposition to the war.
Here's CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a familiar sight across the country. Two simple yellow ribbons blowing in the wind. Here in Brooklyn, outside the home of Lance Corporal William White.

The funeral service, like the more than 100 funerals for fallen American soldiers. But for some families, one huge difference, they supported the troops, but lost a family member in a war they did not believe in.

RITA RUSSELL, WILLIAM WHITE'S AUNT: We're religious people, right and the Bible teaches that there is a time for war and a time for peace, right? And then we do not believe, did not believe that this was the time for war.

HINOJOSA: Their opposition to this war, they say, has made William's death all the harder to accept, difficult to justify and impossible to explain to his grieving younger brothers.

RUSSELL: If he had went to Afghanistan and had died there, it would have been easier for me, because I understood what happened on September 11. But this?

I want them to find something. I want them to find those weapons.

HINOJOSA: There are others who opposed this war and watch their children fall victim to it.

DOROTHY HALVORSEN, ERIK HALVORSEN'S MOTHER: I still don't know, not Erik.

HINOJOSA: Dorothy Halvorsen in Vermont lost her son, Chief Warrant Officer Eric Halvorsen, in a Black Hawk helicopter crash.

HALVORSEN: I have to think of him as he was doing responsibly what he was asked to do. And for that, I'm proud of him. But I hate the war. He shouldn't have gone.

HINOJOSA: And in Pennsylvania, Ruth Aiken worries she'll lose her military husband or military daughter to a war that already has claimed her son, 31-year-old Captain Tristan Aiken.

RUTH AIKEN, MOTHER OF TRISTAN AIKEN: I think it is wrong to say that because you are opposed to the war that you don't support the troops because you're talking to a mom and a wife that has three involved. And that is not true. I support those troops. I just don't support the cause.

HINOJOSA: All say they are proud of what their children did. They were disciplined, they followed orders, they did their jobs.

But at the home of William White, just photographs and memories and words on a wall, wishing he was still here.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com