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Eyes Wide Open Across Pennsylvania

The Fall 2006 Tour

Zion Lutheran Church
Penn Hills, PA, November 2, 2006

We held the exhibit on the Day of the Dead to highlight the incredible number of losses in October, both US soldiers and Iraqi.  We lost 104 service people, 8 from Pennsylvania, in October alone—the third deadliest month in the war.  It was the first time we have held the exhibit in the church of a family member. Diane Santoriello talked about her son, Neil Santoriello Jr., and his role in the church; it was there that the church gathered to comfort Diane and Neil Sr. when they heard of their son’s death.  Many members of the congregation came to visit Neil’s boots and talk of him and their own sense of loss.  Each death impacts a community.

Diane and Neil spoke at length to a reporter from Channel 4.  Diane said the exhibit was one of the most healing things she had done.

One African American woman who volunteers on the troop planes heard the TV broadcast and rushed over.  She used to fly with United and now she flies to Kuwait to take the soldiers to war and bring them home.  She had pictures she had taken on some of the flights and her schedule for the next flight.  There are over 1,000 people doing this work. They encourage the soldiers to write home to the families on the plane and they then deliver the letters.  One mother said it was one of the best birthday presents she had received when the letter arrived on her birthday. 

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