Flags for Peace 02
Flags for Peace. A new project of War for Peace/Romagne 14-18.
On Feb. 25, 2023, Jean-Paul and a small group of volunteers planted 1,000 flags on Côte 255, a hill on the northwest edge of the village of Gesnes-en-Argonne. We reported on this in Flags for Peace 01 on this news page.
In May 2023, the same group headed to another location, a small river meandering along the D998, the road from Romagne to Varennes. At Charpentry, 2,500 flags were unloaded to be planted along the little river, as a silent but impressive call for peace.
About the choice of this location, Jean-Paul says:
For years I've been coming down the hill there and seeing that winding stream. With a helicopter I have flown over it several times. Since I've been working on my Flags for Peace project, the meandering of that stream has attracted me. I see it as an art form that Mother Nature has already laid out for me. That beautiful place evoked a contradiction in me: as beautiful as the little river meanders through the valley, war will also meander visibly through this area forever.
For me, the little river felt like an ideal place to call attention to the message of peace I want to spread with War for Peace/Romagne 14-18.
The planted flags symbolize the war dead of the time on both sides. Soldiers, who by the twist of fate faced each other. Through the flags, they are made visible again for a moment and not forgotten. Jean-Paul's flags are a call for peace now, everywhere in the world.
The photos below paint a picture of a beautiful day in May along that small meandering river near Charpentry.
The Flags for Peace project will continue in early 2025 when Jean-Paul and his volunteers plan to plant 15,000 (!) flags in the valley of the Robinet in Romagne. In Jean-Paul's words: 'A valley that has seen so much misery and war that from the age of 16 I started calling that place Peace Valley'.
Three schools in the Netherlands have now been approached whose students will produce the flags. To support Jean-Paul's Flags for Peace project, you can sponsor one or more flags. Further details will be available soon on our Flags for Peace Project Page (currently under construction)
We will tell you more about this wonderful project in our March newsletter and on the Flags for Peace Project page on this website.
