White Lily
Inside this capsule: a seed of White Lily — and a story of friendship that began in 1950. Drag the capsule to face its label; the QR code is real.
The flower of Italy
Photo: Zachi Evenor · CC BY 2.0
A flower of Italian art and devotion for centuries — painted by masters, carried in processions, given in consolation and in hope.
Flower meaning
In Italian art the white lily is mercy announced — the flower of consolation, carried to those who grieve and those who heal.
Growing your seed
Free the seed from its compostable kraft shell, then give it what white lily asks for:
Watch it grow
Claudio De Felici documented Italian participation in the Korean War in his book La Guerra di Korea, 60 anti dopo. His research included interviews with Italian veterans of the Korean War and their families. He collected more than four thousand pictures from the war, obtaining many of them from the Korean government. Much of his book…
A voice from Italy’s service in Korea · More on Korean War Legacy Foundation
The doctors and nurses of Hospital 68 served without the mandate of membership, only the mandate of conscience. This lily grows white for them — help, unasked and unconditional.
“We Remember. We Grow Together.”
Voices from the archive
Stories from veterans, families and participants that carry the same values as the white lily — retold from the record, never invented.
Italy sent its Red Cross hospital to Korea before it was even a member of the United Nations — aid owed to no treaty, only to conscience. Its wards in Seoul treated soldiers and civilians through the war's later years. (TODO: verify dates)
Source: Italian Red Cross mission records
Help this archive grow
Did someone in your family serve with Italy in Korea — or were they healed, taught or befriended by those who did? Every entry is reviewed and verified with you before publication.
Share a story1950 – 1953
Italy sent the Red Cross Hospital No. 68 to Korea, whose staff treated soldiers and civilians through the war's later years. The gesture carried special weight: Italy was not yet a member of the United Nations when it sent its hospital — help given before any obligation existed.
Historical passages are written with care and without invented figures; details still under review are marked for verification before print.
Italy's civilization has spent millennia perfecting the arts of humanity — medicine among them, from the first universities to the Red Cross wards of Seoul. The lily appears throughout Italian painting as the flower of mercy announced.
Why the White Lily
A flower of Italian art and devotion for centuries — painted by masters, carried in processions, given in consolation and in hope.