Paper Crane Project

From:  David Freece, Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director

For eight years Patty Wood has been folding paper cranes in memory of American troops killed in the Iraq War. The wings of the nearly 4,500 cranes each bear the name, age and rank of an American military service member. Fifty cranes to a string, they hung in her Kelso home. The project was a way to remind her three daughters about the ongoing war. She wanted to pay homage, pay tribute to the men and women serving in Iraq. Now that the war has ended she is taking the cranes down. They will be displayed at the museum beginning May 24th through the summer.

The museum is both honored and humbled to display these cranes. Cowlitz County has a long history of recognizing the military. Patty Wood’s memory crane project is one of the most recent along with the memorial being planned to honor Longview’s Mikayla Bragg who died in Afghanistan on December 20, 2011.

A short program has been planned at the museum on Thursday May 24 at 7:00 p.m. Patty Wood will talk about the memory cranes she created, and museum staff will add information about how Cowlitz County has paid tribute to the military in the past.

On Saturday, May 26 all families are welcome to stop by the museum between 12pm and 4pm for Memorial Day crafts and actives. Learn how to make paper cranes to remember our fallen troops, as well as flags and flowers to place on the grave of our solders on Memorial Day. The event is free but children must be accompanies by an adult.

We hope you can join us for one or both of these events.