Shelly Peavler may not agree with the war in Iraq, but she wants to make sure that soldiers who have died in the war are honored.

Peavler, president of the Missouri Southern College Democrats and senior political science major, said she wants to put away her political views for the weekend and give respect to the soldiers who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The events started Aug. 30 evening when Peavler and several others began placing flags surrounding the parking lot in front of Webster Hall.

In total, volunteers arranged nearly 3,000 flags in lines symbolic of Arlington National Cemetery. The flags represent soldiers who have lost their lives in the Middle East.

“We were going to just do Iraq, but that can be interpreted as being anti-war so we decided that since we are honoring the troops, we would honor all of them in combat right now,” Peavler said.

“They’re doing something that not many people will do, and you have to respect that,” Peavler said. “You also have to honor their families and the fact that the guys aren’t the only ones making sacrifices.

“It’s their families too. There are a lot of young women out there raising kids all on their own because their boyfriend or husband is in Iraq,” Peavler said.

Which is why part of the events is a car show to raise funds for a scholarship for a child who lost one of its parents in the Middle East. The car show will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. There will be trophies for the best car and for the audience choice. The audience choice will be decided by collecting change in a jar for each car and the one with the most change will win the category.

Another reason for the car show is to end the weekend on a good note. On Friday the students will read the names of all the soldiers who have died in the Middle East.

Lauren Oxendine, secretary of the College Democrats and junior international studies major, said the reading will begin at 10 a.m. and be divided by home state. The reading will end with the names of the soldiers from Missouri and a candlelight vigil at about 8 p.m.

Peavler said less than 50 soldiers from Missouri have died in Iraq and far fewer than that in Afghanistan. But there was one soldier from Joplin who died in Afghanistan; Philip Svitak, who has since had the VFW renamed after him.

“It really hits home that there are young guys our age that aren’t coming back,” Peavler said.

After the ceremonies are over, the flags will be recovered and sent to another Missouri college. It was originally planned to send them to Missouri State University in Springfield, but the College Democrats said they haven’t received good responses from MSU.

However, at a recent College Democrats of Missouri meeting Peavler was received very well for her ideas. And expects to send the flags to the University of Missouri-Columbia or one of the Missouri Universities further north.

Then the flags will be sent to another University in Missouri and eventually end up being donated to a VFW to place on graves for Veterans Day.

Peavler said this isn’t the first time a university has honored our fallen soldiers in this way. Omaha University in Nebraska has already done a flag ceremony and so have a few Universities in Florida. But Peavler said this is the first time the flags have been used more than once because all the flags in ceremonies before have just been thrown away after use.

For more information concerning the ceremonies, please contact Kelly Peavler, president of the Missouri Southern College Democrats.