By Denise Smith Amos
Enquirer staff writer

Students walk by the 974 small headstones placed in a grass circle near the entrance to Walnut Hills High School Monday. They represent American troops who have died in the Iraq war. The display appeared in the morning, with a sign nearby that says "Support our Troops Bring Them Home" and signed by the Concerned Students for Peace. (Craig Ruttle photo)

EVANSTON - They seemed to appear overnight, tiny pieces of putty and wood fashioned to resemble gravestones.

Almost a thousand of them were lined in rows on a grassy circle, like a mini-Arlington National Cemetery in front of Walnut Hills High School. On each was written a name and an age, one for each U.S. service member killed in Iraq.

A dozen Walnut Hills students who call themselves Concerned Students for Peace erected the mini-cemetery at 4 a.m. Monday to remind students and faculty of the American casualties of the conflict in Iraq.

The reaction was mixed.

"I've had people come through on the verge of tears and thank us. I've also had people yell at us," said Traven La Botz, a 16-year-old junior from Clifton who came up with the idea.

Walnut Hills Principal Marvin Koenig told the students that they made their point; but they'd have to restore the lawn to its previous state by this morning. A handwritten sign, "Support our Troops Bring Them Home" also was to be removed.

"I think this has probably been the most dramatic form of protest I've seen in my 13 years here," Koenig said later.

"It has certainly created discussion among the students and faculty. ... People need to be able to express their viewpoints in a reasonable manner. This obviously was a reasonable manner."

At least one teacher took her class outside to look at the memorial. Throughout the afternoon, students walked across the circle, with only one or two stopping to read names on the miniature tombstones.

After school let out, a cross country team and a cheerleading squad practiced in the circle and ran laps around it.

Shumpei Watanabe, a 15-year-old Japanese exchange student, said he was surprised at the ages of the dead.

"It's too young to die. Most of them are still kids," said the 10th-grader, who is staying in North Avondale this school year.

Yvette Jones, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Evanston, said her brother is overseas in the Navy, and she appreciated the gesture.

"I think it's nice for them to do that for the fallen soldiers," she said. "I feel there shouldn't have been a war."

As of Monday, 974 U.S. service members had died in the conflict since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

E-mail damos@enquirer.com