On October 11th our peace group decided to participate in the nationwide vigil of "Not one more death, not one more dollar" see (www.afsc.org/2000) to mark the milestone of the 2000th US soldier killed in Iraq. We also wanted to visually present the number to the general public to make them aware of the terrible price America is paying in loss of human life. We decided to install 2000 white flags (white construction markers), white being the color of peace, of veterans' cemetery grave markers (www.arlingtoncemetery.org/photo_gallery/10-31-05.html), and also a good contrast to the green grass of the Park.
We chose the Veteran's Memorial Park because it is a very visible public place in a well-traveled location in the heart of Waterville. Contrary to what has been widely reported, Veteran's Memorial Park is not a veterans' cemetery. It was once a cemetery for veterans of the American Revolution, but the bodies were exhumed and transferred to another cemetery in 1852. The site was once home to a college preparatory school. The park has seen other non-veteran uses as well. For instance about 15 years ago, Pax Christi planted trees in the park to commemorate those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As we realized that the veterans might feel some ownership of this public Park, we wrote a letter to the American Legion asking if they wanted to commemorate the US soldiers with us in a joint action. When we received no reply, we called and were told that the Legion would not be able to consider our request until November 7th when their executive committee meets. We decided to move ahead and apply for the permit ourselves but also made it clear that we wanted our letter to be understood as an invitation for a dialogue and a search for common ground.
We applied for the permit the following morning, October 22, the day the 2000th soldier was killed in Iraq. A permit was granted for "Participation in nationwide vigil to mark the milestone of 2000 soldiers killed in Iraq plus the erection of 2000 flags in commemoration". We erected the white flags in a solemn and touching ceremony with about 50 members on Sunday noon, October 30.
On Tuesday morning Nov. 1, our signs saying "2000 US Soldiers killed in Iraq--HOW MANY MORE?" and "100,000 Iraqis died as a result of this war--HOW MANY MORE?" were stolen. We put them up again on Thursday, November 3. The following Monday we heard from the City that there was some protest against our installation focusing on the sign about the Iraqis. We discussed it in our group extensively and, while we mourn the loss of all life as a result of war, we decided to remove that sign out of respect for the sensitivities of some offended veterans, especially in regard to Veterans Day. We took the sign down Thursday morning, November 10.
The focus of the protestors then shifted to "surrender" flags (that day was the first time we heard that) and that night the regrettable incident of veterans getting arrested occurred as they pulled up some of the white flags. These arrests were the result of the protesters' actions, and is a legal and law enforcement matter independent of the educational peace work that our group continues to pursue. Since the day of the arrests our remaining signs have been stolen.
Apart from setting the record straight and countering further spread of inaccuracies, we would like our action to be understood as protesting this war and not opposing US soldiers. We erected 2000 flags because Iraqis and US soldiers are dying in Iraq daily and our tax dollars are used for the continuation of this unjustifiable war. We continue to be open for dialogue with those opposing our actions and remain hopeful to reach the common ground that peace groups and veterans share: the sadness about the loss of life in the on-going war.
Waterville Area Bridges for Peace & Justice
November 13, 2005