Fernando had a son. His name was Jesus, the same as Christ. Fernando's family immigrated to California from a poor town in Mexico. Jesus had a dream to be a police officer to protect children in the town like where he's from.
He needed a lot of money to go to school. The Army will help the tuition if you register. When Jesus enlisted with the Army, the war began in Iraq. In March of 2003, he stepped on a US cluster bomb and died. Somebody had forgotten to tell him where the bomb was placed.
Fernando was deeply saddened, and went to see the place his son died. In Iraq, he saw many US soldiers of Jesus' age, and many Iraqi soldiers of that age, as well. And he saw many children wounded and separated from their families.
Fernando went back to Iraq with thousands of letters of peace and love from US children to the soldiers. As he handed letter to them, he told them "Come home". He also brought letters to Iraqi children along with food and supplies.
Fernando asked the government to stop the war. He cried for the poor soldiers to be brought home. He asked over and over.
Little by little, people who had lost their families to the war started to gather around him. One of them was a mother who had lost her son in Iraq. Her name was Cindy Sheehan.
Since then, Cindy has held many protests against the war and has become known as "Peace Mom."
Fernando Suarez del Solar
Cindy Sheehan
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