Having left Colmar (Haut-Rhin) on May 1, Jean-Louis Martinez, 69, arrived in Chartres on Wednesday June 26. This retired soldier is crisscrossing France on foot to raise funds for associations supporting injured soldiers, police officers, gendarmes and firefighters.
Jean-Louis Martinez embarked on a long journey through the regions. With one objective: to highlight the wounded people who served France. “My priority is to bring them out of the shadows. These are women and men who have served France, the idea is that the country knows that they exist, that they have fulfilled their duties. They have the right to exist,” he explains. To support these physically or psychologically affected people, Jean-Louis Martinez collects donations to help associations.
“Showing solidarity, serving meals to people who are in the street, is part of our missions”, the youth of Dreux take action
An online kitty
An online fundraiser was therefore opened at the start of his journey to collect donations. It will close at the end of its journey, in October. “The money will be shared equally between the Invaincus association (support for injured soldiers), and the Breizh Thin Red Line association (support for injured firefighters),” he explains.
Jean-Louis Martinez has been thinking about this project for more than ten years. Victim of post-trauma in Ivory Coast, he begins to write a book to exorcise his disorder. “In the book I wrote, I realized that I was saying things that the wounded couldn’t say. Reading this book did them good,” he says.
But Jean-Louis Martinez, who has 37 years in the service of France, wanted to do more for these injured people. He therefore embarked on this operation called Miles to soothe their ills. The former soldier confides: “I had to mentally prepare myself for this adventure. »
The Gallardon solidarity grocery store, housed in town hall premises, has closed its doors
Indeed, for this project, the ex-soldier indicates “crossing all the regions of France on average, between 300 and 400 km per region alone, on foot with my backpack, relying on the cohesion, solidarity, support of the inhabitants, the barracks, the neighborhoods, the town halls for night accommodation.”
During his trip, Jean-Louis was able to rely on several acts of solidarity: “One day, I learned that the person who was hosting me and picking me up had a health problem and could not accommodate me. I posted a call for help on my Facebook account. A lady called me and said: ‘Sir, you are going 500 meters further, there is a hotel, a room has been reserved for you, with a meal and breakfast served'”. Examples like this, Jean-Louis Martinez confides that he “has several”. He is back on the road this Friday, June 28, heading to Les Villages-Vovéens after being hosted by Virginie Daurel, president of the Eurelian association Gyro Bleu & Compagnie.
Practical. Contact: Facebook page “Kms to soothe their ills”. An online prize pool has been opened for the benefit of two associations supporting the injured.
Albane Tanter
