The Signs of War

I'll never forget the first time I saw the signs.

I was driving home from the office when I noticed the first one, then another and still many more.

Every telephone pole on the back road I was driving had a white posterboard on it with the name of a solider, an age and state. There was an American flag with each of them. It took me a minute to figure out what they were all about. It was then that I realized it was Memorial Day weekend and that each of these must represent a soldier who had died in Iraq.

You have to understand that we were just entering Afghanistan when I first saw these and it made for an emotional drive home as I tried to read as many of them as possible. If I saw a local state or a very young age it hit home especially hard.

I always wondered who hung them up, what motivated them and what a powerful reminder it was of the sacrifices men and women make for us who go to war.

Moments ago, all of those questions were answered for me when I quite randomly discovered the short film The Man With the Signs by Boston filmmaker and storyteller Max Esposito.

Thank you Max for finding and sharing this story. I can't fully express how happy this made me.