In Maine, flags highlight town's divisions
Veterans, activists face off over display
WATERVILLE, Maine -- Twenty rows of small white flags stand on the grassy edge of Veterans Memorial Park in the middle of town, planted by peace activists in remembrance of US military deaths in Iraq.
But others see the 2,000 flags as something else: a call for surrender and a desecration of hallowed ground. And on Veterans Day, the dispute deepened bitter divisions over the Iraq war in this town of 16,000.
The annual parade ended in the parking lot of the local American Legion post yesterday, not at the park where it has always ended, because of the flag display.
''Frankly I'd be embarrassed if my son saw it like that," said Michael Williams Sr., an Air Force veteran whose son is a sergeant in the Army. ''They don't need to remind me with 2,000 flags that 2,000 soldiers are dead."
Williams was one of five arrested Thursday evening and charged with trespassing after they attempted to rip the flags from the ground, despite repeated warnings from police. A dozen people, including members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, faced off with about a dozen activists from the Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice.
Veterans Day, Williams said, should be preserved for honoring those who have served, free of controversy or disdain.
But members of the peace group, who stood off to the side during the protest and arrests, said the flags were not intended to start a quarrel. The group simply wanted to mark the US death toll, said organizer Arne Springorum, 33, a local geologist. That toll included nine Maine residents on Nov. 5, the Department of Defense says.
The VFW and the peace group have been battling since the war began in March 2003, in letters to the local paper, in protests, and at City Hall. But the brewing hostilities erupted this time, triggering debate among residents.
At the local Applebee's last night, Louella Lemieux said that her father is a veteran, but that she believes the peace activists have a right to their display. ''I can understand both sides, and they just kind of collided, their belief systems," said Lemieux, who works for an L.L. Bean call center.
Nancy Long called the flag display ''a slap in the face" on Veterans Day, but said the veterans and their supporters who were arrested got what they deserved. ''I can understand where they're coming from, but they still broke the law," said Long, who has lived in Waterville for a year and a half.
Don Farrell, a dentist from nearby Winslow, said the peace activists had gone too far. ''Veterans Park, in my opinion, that's a step beyond," he said.
The peace display has been a sore subject since it was first proposed. Peace group members said they wrote the veterans groups a letter, hoping that the two could erect a joint monument to honor the soldiers killed in Iraq.
But there was no response, said Springorum, so the peace group secured the town permits, which require the flags to be removed after the first heavy snow.
''I thought we needed something permanent to remind people about the cost of war," Springorum said. ''I thought the really appropriate place for it would be the veterans park, but I understood that [the veterans group] feel some ownership of that park."
By Oct. 30, a portion of the memorial park, a small plot of land near the Waterville Public Library, was decorated with 2,000 white flags. Near the flags were three signs that read: ''War Is Not the Answer," ''2000 Soldiers Killed in Iraq How Many More?" and ''100,000 Iraqis Died as a Result of This War How Many More?"
The sign about the Iraqi death toll drew immediate protest from veterans. Opponents called town leaders demanding that the peace group's permit be revoked, said Springorum. The group removed the sign about the Iraqis.
''To me, the sign was about loss of human life, but I realized it was like a slap in the face to some people who think in military terms," Springorum said.
Then the objections turned to the color of the flags. A white flag is internationally known as a symbol of surrender.
''That was an interpretation we never anticipated," Springorum said. ''We thought of several different colors, but black seemed drastic and represented death. Red seemed like it represented a bloody memorial. A white flag seemed appropriate, because it was the color of truth."
At issue for some of the veterans in town is growing antiwar sentiment in the community and across the nation. Williams and his father, a World War II veteran, said they are tired of negative news media coverage of the war that they feel is fueling that sentiment. For them, the face-off at the park was an opportunity to take a stand against the tide of opinion.
Malcolm E. Williams, 87, said he wished the police who arrested his son had taken him into custody, too. ''I'm beginning to feel ashamed I even fought for my country," said the World War II veteran, a medic in the Army Air Corps who recalled the many surrender flags he saw in Germany.
As Michael Williams, 58, a retired bus driver, looked out over the flags yesterday afternoon, he had to look down. Not because he was having trouble keeping his emotions in check, but to make sure his feet didn't cross from the sidewalk onto the grass. Williams said the police chief warned him that if he stepped foot in the park, he would be arrested again. Williams said he and the others were released, and they are scheduled to appear Jan. 11 in Waterville District Court.
He says shifting opinion about Iraq reminds him of the Vietnam War. He served stateside. ''We ran out of there with our tails between our legs," Williams said. ''I don't want to see that happen again."
Another Vietnam veteran defended the display, even as he says he understands anger among other veterans.
''I think they are very passionate about what they believe, " said Bill Lord, 56, a clinical social worker for troubled youth and one of several veterans in Bridges for Peace and Justice, which says it has about 50 active members. ''I wish they could understand that what we are doing is an attempt to reduce casualties among our brothers and sisters fighting in wars overseas."
Lord, who was crew chief on an Air Force transport, said he endorsed the white flags as part of the display, never thinking that the color would cause controversy.
''I faced profound discrimination when I returned from Vietnam, and that is the last thing that I would ever do to other soldiers," he said. ''Why . . . would I put a surrender flag to commemorate people who died in battle? It defies logic."
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com; Megan Tench at mtench@globe.com. 