Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: "In Wisconsin"

Original Air Date: December 29th, 2005

Loew:

Hello and welcome to "In Wisconsin." I'm Patty Loew. Each Week we bring you stories about the people places and issues in our state. This week, as we wrap up 2005, find out how the first year in office is going for a native Texan who became mayor of Sheboygan. Keep the streets safe in style with the Road Crew, an effort to reduce drunk driving. Meet a man who has made it his mission to remember all of the coalition soldiers killed in the war on terror. We'll also take a snowy walk in the woods on this last 2005 edition of "In Wisconsin."

Loew:

I'm on the Ice Age Trail, a trail that runs the full 31-mile length of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. In all, there are more than 160 miles of trails in the southern unit, and that's just half the story. Just a little ways north of here, you'll get to Kettle Moraine state forest northern unit. It covers 30,000 acres in Washington, Fond Du Lac, and Sheboygan counties. Videographer Frank Boll brings us a video postcard of Kettle Moraine north.

As we enjoy the beauty of this state forest and look ahead to a three?day weekend, it might be easy to overlook the reason why Monday, Memorial Day, is a holiday. It's the day set aside to remember those who have died in service to our country. And at this time, when the nation is at war, those memories are all too fresh. In Walworth County, one man has taken it upon himself to create a memorial, and the list of those it honors grows daily.

Chet Borowski:

People say in war casualties happen, but casualties is just a word. Behind that word are really flesh and blood men and women who give up their lives.

I think it's still important to put this information up. It tells that men and women are still dying each and every day.

Narrator:

Each and every day, at the end of the day, Chet Borowski heads out of his house to the edge of his property on Peters Road in Sharon township, and performs a daily ritual. He changes the number of U.S. and Coalition soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, even the Philippines, as part of the War on Terror.

Borowski:

I have a lot of respect for all these people that are just doing what they're told for whatever reason, whether it's loyalty or patriotism, or a job. They're making a tremendous sacrifice, and I feel driven to make them known. I list the casualty by name, their picture, if available, their hometown, and how they died.

Narrator:

What Borowski has created here is more than a marker for the dead. He has created a memorial, a way to remember each and every coalition soldier. From near--

Borowski:

Specialist Michelle M. Witmer. She was 20 years old with the 32nd Police Military Company of Wisconsin Army National Guard.

Narrator:

--and afar.

Borowski:

The most recent coalition casualties, the two Ukraine soldiers here, Komstantin Mihaliew and Jarsolav Zlochevskij who were killed by hostile fire in Iraq on April 28.

Narrator:

He records the fallen from 16 coalition countries who have lost soldiers.

Borowski:

When men and women were dying and it wasn't the lead story, that was very upsetting to me. So I just ?? I began to make it the lead story at least in my life. Do I want others to see it and to pay tribute? Sure. It's a free country. You're welcome to just drive on by. But my hope is that more and more people will come and pay tribute.

Narrator:

Borowski began the memorial in April of 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, when the fallen numbered only 58. He started with this stone.

Borowski:

I wrapped this in black as a sign of mourning, and simply began to tally the best I could the number of dead from day to day, and unfortunately it goes on and on.

Narrator:

The coalition memorial has grown from a black taped counting stone to panels of plywood that name each soldier.

Borowski:

This is a four by eight sheet of five inch thick plywood painted black held up with posts and in the event of a storm, I'll hold it up as I have in the past.

Narrator:

It's a simple hand?made memorial that requires sometimes hours of work each day sifting through websites.

Borowski:

There are over 130 casualties in a month as there were in April. Quite some time, two, three hours. Again, it's dealing with that fog of who died where.

Narrator:

Who died where. Borowski has a full?time job working as a therapist for the county. He uses his free time to take on this job, to penetrate that fog of war, to get the true picture of exactly who died and where.

Borowski:

They have confirmed five U.S. Navy sailors and one U.S. Army soldier assigned to the first marine expeditionary force were killed May 2 in an indirect fire attack on a military installation in the province. Now, yesterday this news was out as a mortar attack on a military base in Iraq. Now there's more information. So again, yesterday the news in the media was it was five marines. Today they're confirming it's five United States Navy.

Narrator:

The story that emerges from the details can hit close to home. One of the five sailors killed was Petty Officer Second Class Michael Anderson born in Oshkosh and shown here with his 7?year?old daughter brandy just before he left for Iraq. Borowski has begun to collect news stories of coalition casualties from local papers to add to the memorial.

Borowski:

This is the story of Casey Sheehan. He said anything he did he did it with all his heart. Casey as a toddler. Casey in elementary school. Casey as a soldier. Casey's grieving family. His sister, Carly. His sister, Jane, 18. The details tell the story. The name, the age, how many years on this earth that this man or woman had and gave, and who grieves for them.

There is no politics to it. If you're pro?war, come pay tribute. If you're anti?war, come pay tribute. If you value human life, come and pay tribute to the men and women who have died. I'll take all political sides as long as they come and pay tribute.