FARMINGTON – The names of more than 250 military and civilian men, women and children who have died in the last year in Iraq and other conflict zones around the globe will be read aloud by Farmington area residents in commemoration of Veterans Day on Friday night, Nov. 11.

The reading, which will take place at the gazebo in downtown Farmington, will be preceded by a silent candlelight procession that leaves from the post office at 6 p.m. Area residents are welcome to join in the procession and the reading of names.

“The ceremony is intended as an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of war. The 250 names represent a small portion of the actual number who have died as a result of armed conflict in the last year alone,” said Lee Sharkey, an organizer of the event.

The sponsors are Farmington Women in Black and the Western Mountains Peace Action Workshop.

Farmington Women in Black is part of a grassroots international peace network that protests war and other forms of violence and the injustices that underlie them through silent vigils and other actions. The Farmington group, one of 12 in Maine, conducts a vigil every Friday from noon to 12:30 p.m. in front of the post office.

The Western Mountains Peace Action Workshop for two decades has promoted the cause of peace and justice through education and activism. The group meets on the first Thursday of every month in Room 217, Ricker Addition, University of Maine at Farmington.

For more information, contact Sharkey at 293-2390 or [email protected] or Eileen Liddy at 645-4755 or [email protected]