HISTORIC MEMORIAL PLAQUE INSTALLED
By Christopher Blackwell

On Nov. 20 a historic event took place when the State of Nevada mounted the first memorial plaque with a pentacle in their northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery near Fernley. It was mounted on the Wall of Heroes in honor of Sgt. Patrick Dana Stewart, next to the plaque of his fellow National Guard teammate Chief Warrant Officer John Flynn. This is the first time the pentacle has appeared on a government-issued memorial plaque in a government-run cemetery.

The space had remained empty for more than a year while his widow, Roberta Stewart, fought the Veterans Administration to add the pentacle to its official symbols of belief. The VA still has not made a decision and now faces two lawsuits.

The ACLU filed one suit with the VA Court of Appeals. The other was brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which is representing Roberta Stewart and three others, in both the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The plaque became possible when the Nevada Office of Veterans Services determined that the VA had no legal control over any Nevada state veterans cemetery. Veteran Services decided that it had the authority to put the Wiccan emblem on a plaque for Stewart.

On Nov. 20 Circle Times reported that after she saw her husband’s plaque for the first time that Stewart told Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary over the phone, "The pentacle on the plaque is beautiful!" The plaque was installed in time for Roberta and Patrick’s Nov. 22 wedding anniversary.

Stewart said she received a phone call Monday morning that the plaque had been installed on the wall. She felt as if her husband had given her a special wedding anniversary gift.

The following day the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Roberta said, "It is awesome to see Patrick next to John and finally both of them honored."

Stewart and Fox thanked the Nevada governor and his staff for making the plaque possible.

Patrick Stewart of Fernley, NV, Chief Warrant Officer John Flynn of Spanish Springs, NV, and four other soldiers died on Sept. 25, 2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan.

"It is the first time a pentacle has been in a veterans cemetery in the history of the United States and I feel as if we're making progress on religious freedom," Stewart said. "I will continue to fight for our soldiers who are still fighting."

Fox announced that over a hundred Wiccan and Pagan veterans who have the pentacle for their emblem of belief have joined the The Order of the Pentacle newly formed on Veterans Day.

More info: http://www.circlesanctuary.org/liberty/veteranpentacle/11Nov06Update.htm

For more information on how to support the Pentacle Quest: http://www.circlesanctuary.org/liberty/veteranpentacle