Peace, Poetry, and Project RENEW

Doug Rawlings, co-founder and president of the Maine Veterans For Peace chapter, will present a talk on Thursday, November 16, 6:30-8:00 pm., at Norway Memorial Library. Rawlings returned to Vietnam in August 2023 to support and collaborate with Project RENEW.

Project RENEW was founded in August 2001 by the government of Quang Tri Province and international NGOs. Its purpose is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by cluster bombs and other munitions in Central Vietnam. While in Vietnam in August, Rawlings participated in a conference in Hue City and traveled, conferring with Project RENEW workers and observing.

Rawlings says, “Since I was with the 7/15th artillery in the central highlands of Vietnam from July of 1969 to August of 1970, I feel a personal responsibility for the pain inflicted on the Vietnamese people both then and now.”

Rawlings taught at the University of Maine in Farmington, is an editor of Peace and Planet News, and has written six books of poetry. He and other Maine veterans founded the anti-war group Veterans For Peace in 1985. Rawlings talk about this return to Vietnam and the work of Project RENEW, show slides, and read from his poetry. His books will be for sale.

This program is presented by the Public Interest Forum of Oxford Hills and the Norway Memorial Library. Norway Memorial Library is located at 258 Main Street in Norway, Maine.