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UP AGAINST THE BULKHEAD
June, 1971 Vol 2/No3/issue8 ; (998 Valencia, S.F. 94110
te
4
» N, e:
WARAND WILL NOT
FIGHT THE
| VIETNAMESE PEOPLE
es:
IAM AGAINST THE
|
CLIP THIS
YOUR LIFE
Travis AFB
hiot &
Resistance
Travis AFB, Fairfield, California " May, 1971
Travis Air Force Base exploded near the end of May
with fighting, a huge fire, mass arrests, many injuries,
and at least one death. Both the officers there and the
straight press claim that it was a orace riot�. But the
men and women stationed at Travis know it was differ-
ent. It was not a orace war,� but an expression of their
frustration and anger with the lifers, the oppressive
conditions in the military, and the war.
Travis is the West Coast embarkation and returning
point for troops going to Vietnam. Every day, planes
loaded with soldiers take off bound for Saigon. Every
day wounded soldiers are flown into the second largest
military hospital in the United States.
All of the 6500 permanent party at Travis are very
close to the war. They work at the terminal"seeing men
their age and rank take off for Vietnam. They work at
the hospital"seeing the same men return without a leg,
a testicle or their sanity. And they work with the air-
craft"servicing the planes which take those men to
Asia.
Late Saturday night, May 22, two incidents occurred
in the o1300� barracks area where 2500 men and
women of various squadrons are housed. The first in-
volved two black airmen who were giving the power
handshake in the mess hall. A group of white airmen
interrupted the handshake by repeatedly walking be-
tween the two black airmen. The blacks warned if they
tried to pass through again, they would be stopped. The
whites tried again and fighting broke out. That same
night in the WAF barracks, a white WAF asked a black
WAF to turn down a radio. She refused, and the white
WAF turned it off. Both of these incidents provoked
fighting throughout the area.
By Sunday, there was widespread fighting. Security
police were brought in with guns, dogs, and gas masks.
Two black airmen were arrested and put in the stockade.
The charges against the two men, Byes and Mays, were
not made public.
On Monday, almost 100 airmen marched to the stock-
ade with the cry oFree Our Brothers!� They were pissed
because only blacks had been locked up when both
blacks and whites participated in the incidents. When
they arrived, they were met by air police armed with
gas, automatic weapons, and gas masks. The air pigs
with the help of local civilian pigs forced the airmen
to return to their barracks.
On the way back to the barracks, fights broke out on
the baseball diamond. But this time, whites and blacks
fought the pigs. One hundred thirty-five were arrested,
and ten injured were taken to the hospital. Many people
who were just standing around were arrested, and sev-
eral were hauled from their rooms and locked up.
A general warning went out to stay in the barracks.
Firehoses were used to keep people inside and away
from windows.
At about this time, 8pm, a Bachelor OfficersT Quarters
burned. One local fireman died from a heart attack
fighting the fire which caused about $5000 damage. It
still hasnTt been determined whether it was arson.
General Moore, Commander of the 22d Air Force,
and a lifer sidekick, Colonel Blake, decided that they
could cool out the situation by talking with the brothers
and sisters in the o1300� area. They were jeered and
spat at. They split. But another lifer, Colonel Ivers
Vollmar, was hauled from his car and put in the hos-
pital for 23 stitches in his head (score one for our side).
That did it. General Blake issued an order to arrest
anyone who was in a group of five or more. Police
were to shoot at the legs of anyone suspected of making
trouble! MP reinforcements were called in from San
Francisco.
After questioning, 89 of the 135 arrested- were held
overnight in a detention center designed to hold 20
people, and then shipped to stockades at other bases.
The 14 black WAFs who had been detained were all
released.
On Tuesday, base command revealed their secret
weapon"the high level human relations panel. They
opened their doors to hear grievances. No one came.
Since airmen and WAFs were excluded from the panel,
what was there to talk about? The day was marked by
scattered fighting on base and a bomb scare at the pas-
senger terminal, where brothers are loaded on planes
bound for Vietnam.
By Wednesday, there were still no charges against
the 89 airmen. Neither the PIO nor the legal office
would even reveal their names. Anyway you look at it,
base command was clearly scared. The PIO wouldn't
talk. Base command wouldn't talk. The brass wouldn't
allow airmen to talk to press people unless a PIO was
present. And arrested airmen were not allowed to talk
to the press or to civilian lawyers.
Dix is another notorious stockade. Six POWs have
died from ptomaine food poisoning since October. In
| May, 140 inmates staged a three-day hunger strike pro-
| testing bad medical care, horrible food, brutal guards,
racism, mail censorship, and incompetent legal counsel.
They issued a statement which said,
oWe know for a fact that people on the outside do
not realize what is happening within these barbed wire
fences, because each of us here was on the outside
once and we did not know. The same applies to all the
jails and prisons throughout the US. What we are doing
is trying to bring to light the corruption that has existed
in our judicial system for sometime.
Angela Davis is an example of the justice most people
receive in this country. She and other political prisoners
in the US are what we are striking for. We are also
prisoners of the military, which is a society in a society.
But the basic function is still the same. And that is to
suppress anything or action which would lead to change
of this society. But there also exists racism and the
| denial of human rights. Discrimination towards Black
| and Puerto Rican inmates is one of the most serious
| problems in state prisons and jails. Most of these in-
mates do not know one law from another and are
forced into making deals with the District Attorneys
and find themselves serving time for a crime that they
did not commit or, if they had money enough to acquire
a proper legal attorney, would not have gone to prison.�
But when our reporters finally got onto the base,
this is what the people there told them:
oWe will end this racism in any way we can.� Another
black airman rapped down the built-in racism of the
promotion system. oThe system is based on /Q tests
which have proven to be a measure of your middle class
background, rather than of your ability. This keeps
black people out of the good jobs, and we end up cook-
ing in the mess or cleaning up in the hospital.�
Although racism had a lot to do with it, it wasn't
just a racial thing. All airmen we talked to, black and
white, were angry that the national news coverage had
painted the thing as a race riot. One white airman hit
it on the nose: oThey (the officers) try to take the
continued on page 11
Fort Ord is one of the main processing plants for meat
being shipped to the Nam. Thousands of brothers pass
through basic and AIT every month on their way to
Asia. The Ord stockade and SPD have a special rep for
brutal overcrowded conditions"and for the spirited
resistance of the POWs. Last year, the brothers in SPD
got it on and burned the mess hall and one of the bar-
racks during a long, hot night of fighting the MPigs.
In early May almost 100 black, chicano, and white
brothers in the stockade pulled off a sit-down strike
timed to coincide with a visit from a Sixth Army inspec-
tion team. As soon as the POWs assembled in the yard
for 7am formation, the strikers sat down and handed a
list of demands to the guards. The demands included:
extension of visiting hours from one to four hours; use
of the yard on weekends; black and brown cultural pro-
grams; an end to harassment by guards; speedier dis-
charges; quicker trial dates; black and brown radio and
television stations. The list ended with a call for a
senatorial investigation of the entire military penal
system.
The guards responded by giving a direct order to
move to the training room. Some people moved, but
others held tight. When they were told that negotia-
tions on the demands would begin in the training room,
everyone filed in.
The MPigs proceeded to lock the doors and singled
out Robin Krueger, one of the brothers they thought
had helped plan the sit-down. Krueger was wary. He'd
been beaten four days earlier by guards. When Krueger
stuck with his brothers, the MPigs vamped on the whole
group. Krueger and two brothers"Bruce and Cabiya"
viciously beaten and thrown in segregation. During the
rest of the week the strike negotiators were put in seg.
The brass at Ord has decided that the sit-down should
become a non-event. They are calling it oa minor demo-
nstration� over visiting hours. Despite the presence of
more than eighty witnesses, nothing has been done
about a report filed with the inspector general about
the savage beatings. The latest word from Ord is that
conditions in the stockade are as bad as ever despite
longer visiting hours. The new CO at Ord is trying to
give the place a liberal image. But he turns out to be
just another lifer pig. The only justice in the military
will be the justice handed out by the EMs against the
lifers and the pigs. Get them before they get you. 0
KNOW WHO YOUR
FRIENDS ARE...
VC OFFERS PEACE WITH ANTIWAR Gls
They all want peace"opeace with honor,� oa just
peace,� etc., etc., blah, blah. But somehow all we have
gotten is more war. War in Laos (secretly for a dozen
years, now openly since the invasion in February), war
in Cambodia (invaded in May 1970 and reinvaded twice
this year), and air war again in North Vietnam (called
oprotective reaction� in Pentagon double talk).
With 73% of the American people for total withdrawal
by the end of 1971, we have enough people to make
Our own peace. We've started with the PeopleTs Reace
Treaty (check the last issue of Bulkhead). Now the VC
has issued an order to its troops describing how to make
peace with Gilson the local level inthe Nam.
Even though Nixon knows how the American people
stand on the issue of the war, he is still committed to
a military victory. Before, he and his two biggest offi-
cial mouths, Spiro and Attorney General Mitchell,
worked up the myth of the Silent Majority while mil-
lions marched against the war. Now the polls tell us
that 73% want out now"no matter what. There is no
Silent Majority. The message is coming through loud
and clear.
But Nixon and the giant corporations who own him
need a military victory to carry out their plans for
Southeast Asia. US News and World Report, a magazine
for businessmen, spelled it out back in 1954 when the
US stepped in for the defeated French: oOne of the
richest areas is open to the winner of Indochina. ThatTs
behind the growing US concern...tin, rubber, rice, key
strategic raw materials are what the war is really about.
The US sees it as a place to hold"at any cost.�
Add to this the recent discovery of some of the richest
oil deposits in the world off the coast of Vietnam and
Thailand and you got the answer. Nixon is willing to
pay with our blood and the blood of millions of Asian
people to rip off the resources of Southeast Asia.
Since the Silent Majority myth backfired, Nixon has
been looking around for new gimmicks to stir up hatred
against the Vietnamese in order to continue the war. He
has told us that he will not withdraw until the North
Vietnamese release American POWs. But this is turning
out to be another shuck. When an office was opened for
POW families in Washington, over half the families re-
fused to join in. They said they didnTt want to be used
in publicity campaigns that would only continue the war.
Atthe April 24 march in San Francisco, Delia Alvarez,
sister of the first POW (captured over four years ago) said
that the way to get her brother out was to oend this
damn war!�
Recently Nixon has added the survival of the Thieu-
Ky dictatorship, the so-called government of South
Vietnam, as a new condition for total US withdrawal.
This is ridiculous. The Thieu-Ky clique canTt survive for
a moment without the almighty US dollar, US air power
and US troops. They wouldn't have been there in the
first place if it hadn't been forthe US.
Our government does not represent us. They canTt
deal with our demands for peace. The government that
the US imposed on the people of Vietnam after they
kicked out the French doesnTt represent them. The
people of Vietnam support the guerrillas, the so-called
Viet Cong, who are fighting for the independence of
their country.
ORDER OF THE COMMAND OF THE SOUTH VIETNAM PEOPLETS LIBERATION ARMED FORCES
In keeping with the Vietnamese peopleTs long-standing tradition of humanitarianism, the South Vietnam
National Front for Liberation and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam
have stated on repeated occasions that its policy is to welcome the anti-war US servicemen and to give a
humane treatment to the US servicemen captured or wounded on the battlefield.
In the present situation and pursuant to this policy, the Command of the South Vietnam PeopleTs Liberation
Armed Forces orders:
1. Not to attack those anti-war US servicemen"individuals or groups" who demand repatriation, oppose
orders of the US commanders, and abstain from hostile actions against the PeopleTs Liberation Armed Forces,
from supporting or coming to the rescue of the Saigon Army, encroaching on the freedom, property and lives
of the South Vietnamese people, interfering in their internal affairs, hindering their struggles against the
Thieu-Ky-Khiem clique.
2. To give a proper treatment to those US servicemen"individuals or groups"who in action refrain from
opposing the PeopleTs Liberation Armed Forces, and those who carry with them anti-war literature.
3. To stand ready to extend aid and protection to those anti-war US servicemen who have to run away for
their opposition to orders of operations, to harsh discipline and to the discriminatory policy in the army.
4. To welcome and give good treatment to those US servicemen who cross over to the South Vietnam
people and the PeopleTs Liberation Armed Forces; to stand ready to help them go home or seek asylum in
another country If requested by them.
5. To welcome and to grant appropriate rewards to those US servicemen"individuals or groups"who
support the National Front for Liberation and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of
South Vietnam.
The Command of the South Vietnam PeopleTs Liberation Armed Forces calls on the officers and men in
all services of the US army in South Vietnam to make their best efforts to demand their repatriation, to
refuse to go submissiviely to a useless death in the unjust war in Vietnam and Indochina, to try by every
means to enter into contact with and to inform the South Vietnam people and the PeopleTs Liberation Armed
Forces of their anti-war actions in order to receive assistance.
The PeopleTs Liberation Armed Forces must seriously carry out this order while constantly enhancing
their vigilance and meting out exemplary punishment to those who continue stubbornly to follow the US
imperialists in opposing the Vietnamese people.
page 2
South Vietnam, April 26, 1971
The White House and the Pnetagon know what the
score is in Vietnam. Senator Stuart Symington of Mis-
souri laid it.out: oIt has been my impression, after vi-
sits to Vietna, that one of the problems is that a majority
of the people support the guerrillas in the countryside
but do not support the Thieu government.� There it is,
but who are the VC?
Whos the VG?
Well, to start with, they aren't the north Vietnamese
because there ain't no such thing as north Vietnamese.
Vietnam was, is, and will be one country. It was divided
temporarily in 1954, after the Vietnamese defeated the
French, according to the Geneva Accords which were
signed by all the major powers. (Russia, China, France,
etc. signed the agreement; the US wouldn't sign but
said that they would support it in a separate statement.
Now it is clear that the US had already made plans to
break the agreement.)
The country was divided into two parts at the 17th
parallel"known as the DMZ (demilitarized zone)"in
order to end the fighting until national elections were
held. The Accords said specifically that the DMZ oSho-
uld not be interpreted as constituting a political or
territorial boundary.� But the US wouldn't allow the
country to be reunited through elections. They knew
that Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietnamese people in
their war against French colonialism, would win. Check
it out. President Eisenhower didnTt hesitate to admit
this: oHad elections been held at the time of the fighting
possibly 80% of the population would have voted for
the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader.�
So the US, in violation of an international agreement
which it said it supported, created the ogovernment�
of South Vietnam. Then when the Vietnamese began to
resist the repression which was carried out by the new
US puppet government, the US accused the Vietnamese
now called North Vietnamese of invading their ow
country!
For six years, 1954-1960, the puppet government,
following US orders, built a huge army (ARVN) and
tried to wipe out all of those who had fought for Viet-
namTs independence from France. After tens of thou-
sands of patriots were slaughtered, the people of the
south organized the National Liberation Front in 1960
to throw the US and its puppets out. The NLF is a co-
alition of all organizations, parties, and individuals
who agree with the basic program of peace, indepen-
dence, neutrality, land reform, and gradual reunifica-
tion of the country. After the NLF won a huge military
victory during the nationwide Tet offensive of 1968,
they united with several new organizations formed
during the fighting in the big cities and formed the
Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Viet-
nam (PRG). The PRG represents the majority of the:
population of southern Vietnam and is organized into
peopleTs committees at the village level. The PRG gov-
erns most of the country with the exception of the large
cities like Hue and Saigon and the areas right around
big US bases.
For twenty years, the brass, the government, and the
press have turned out lie after lie, hoping to fool us all
into fighting their war. We knew better. As one Nam
vet in Washington said, oItTs the peopleTs struggle ag-
ainst the aggressor. But we're the aggressor.� A lot of
Gls inthe Nam who understand what is happening have
made their own peace with the VC by going UA, re-
fusing to go into action, avoiding fire fights, fucking
over equipment, offing officers, and just generally drag-
ging their asses.
Our anti-war amovement has had a lot of contact
with the NLF and PRG over the last year, working out
new ways to make peace. Together we drew up the
PeopleTs Peace Treaty which was in the last issue of the
Bulkhead.
Now the Vietnamese have taken the idea one step
further. On April 26, two days after 800,000 people
marched against the war led by thousands of Gls, the
NLF (Peoples Liberation Armed Forces) issued an order
of the day to their guerrilla and regular forces so that
Gls and the VC can begin working out their own cease-
fires on the local level.
The main points of the order (see box for the whole
thing) are as follows:
1. No attacks against Gls who oppose the war, want
to leave Vietnam, are resisting orders from the brass,
and respect the lives and property of the Vietnamese;
2. Assistance to GIs who go AWOL in Vietnam;
3. Welcome and assistance to Gis who go over to the
side of the Vietnamese. Assistance to return to the US
orto split to another country.
This is heavy, but we no longer can wait for the war
makers to end the war. If we do it, it will get worse and
worse. They have proven to us time and time again
that they have no intention of stopping the fighting no
matter how many deaths it takes to conquer. Indochina.
We have to rely on ourselves, on our own power which
comes from our numbers, our organizations, and most
important, our determination to end the war. O
Armed Forces Day"May 15/16"used
to be a big thing for the right-wingers and
brass. They could wheel out their otoys� to show the
public how their tax dollars are being ripped off _to
line the pockets of the big defense contractors and the
generals. Last year the GI movement decided that we
couldn't let this kind of rinky"dink militarism go un"
challenged while Asians and Americans were dying so
that superpigs could get rich. We started Armed Farces
Day. The lifers got so up tight with their visions of
ohordes of invading hippies� on base getting it on with
anti"war Gls that they closed down 9 scheduled Armed
Forces Day shows.
This year the second Armed Farces Day, now an
international event, was bigger and better. With all the
reports not yet in, we know of demonstrations at at least
22 bases. The brass shut down six bases because of
(Calif.) and Fort Carson (Colo.), civilians and/or Gls
demonstrated on base. At Fort Carson the brass finally
gave up and stopped the show two hours early after
90 car loads of people set up a ocheering� section
(oFTA,� etc.) inthe bleachers.
Almost all the planning for demonstrations was met
with harassment, particularly at Ft. Campbell (Tenn.),
Great Lakes Naval Air Station (Ill.), and Ft. Hood
(Texas). But that kind of petty shit doesnTt stop anyone
anymore. All planned events took place despite very
bad weather at two bases, Ft. Lewis (Wash.) and Ft.
Bragg (N.C.). ThatTs more than the brass can say!
With the spirit of resistance growing among Gls, the
brass are showing more and more openly their fear
and hositility toward otheir own� men. Lifers and per-
manent party were put on riot duty at several bases,
EMs on riot duty were not issued ammo, and many of
our brothers and sisters were given extra duty or were
restricted to base while demonstrations were on.
Here is what we've heard so far:
Ilwakuni Marine Corps Air Station"Our Japanese bro-
thers and sisters got it on a little early celebrating Chil-
drens Day (May 5) by flying kites in the flight path at
the end of lwakuniTs main runway. The brass called the
Japanese cops, but the cops couldn't figure out what to
do since no one was breaking the law. When the cops
started pulling down kites, a couple of people got an
old fisherman to take them out in his boat on a river at
the end of the runway. The pigs, with an American
officer.on board, went after the fishing boat with a
patrol boat, but the patrol boat went aground. When
they put a small boat over the side, it almost capsized.
They finally got all the kites down, but not until the
demonstrators, most of whom were trom a Japanese
anti-war group called Beheiren, had interfered with air
traffic.
Clark Air Force Base (The Philippines) "Gls wearing
black arm bands handed out a leaflet saying, oNO to
5
4
war, genocide, fascism, racism, imperialism, and to all
forms of exploitation and oppression.� They specifically
called for orespect for the sovereignty and right to
se/f-determination of the Filippino people,� and deman-
ded that oa// US Armed Forces be withdrawn from the
Republic of the Philippines.�
Ft. Bliss (El Paso, Texas)"Over 600 Gis and about 700
local people joined in a festival and rally at MckKlelligan
Canyon. Three rock bands, guerrilla theatre, and speak-
ers were presented. The rally stressed the importance
of the PeopleTs Peace Treaty. Up til now, over 250 Gis
at Bliss have signed the Treaty.
Ft. Devens (Massachusetts)"Over 1000 civilians got
into the base to talk with Gls. Afterwards, a Gl/civilian
solidarity dinner was held at the Common Sense book-
store.
Portsmouth Brig (Portsmouth, N.H.)"The Portsmouth
brig is known as one of the worst hell-holes in the coun-
try. Under the banner, oFree All Political Prisoners,�
Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Service People
for Peace and Justice led a march of 300 people to a
rally ina park near the brig.
Newport Naval Base (Newport, R.1.)"Sailors and civil-
ians from the Potemkin Bookstore were planning some
on-base actions when the brass closed the base for the
day. Instead, a crowd gathered at the bookshop to see
anti-war films. Potemkin has been working on the
People's Peace Treaty gathering hundreds of signatures.
Quonset Naval Air Station (Quonset Point, R.1.)"
Member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War tried
to enter Quonset to rap with sailors and airmen but
were turned away at the gate. Apparently the only
Armed Forces Day activities in Rhode Island were
some National Guard manuevers in aswamp.
Philadelphia Naval Base (Philadelphia, Pa.)"Vietnam
Veterans Against the War, the Philadelphia Resistance,
and people from The Destroyer (a GI paper) sponsored
a picnic and then an all-night vigil outside Indepen-
dence Hall. After that about 30 vets tried to visit their
brothers in the Naval Hospital but were stoppped by
the shore patrol. They finally got in when some hospital
staff came out and gave them names of people to visit.
Despite restrictions and threats, many people from the
base attended the picnic and vigil.
Ft. Dix (Wrightstown, N.J.)"Anti-war groups in New
York and Philadelphia organized a GI/Civilian Solida-
rity Day march outside the base while the brass held
their show inside. About 600 people turned out.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Fairborn, Ohio)"
When several hundred civilians and vets showed for the
first demonstration ever in Fairborn, they got a good
reception from local people. All base personnel were
locked up and the CO put out a press release saying
ses)
WOT RELIEVE
CEWERAL-
No More War Toys
that the show had been called off due to budget cut-
backs in Washington.
Ft. Bragg (Fayetville, N.C.)"About 500 people, more
than half Gls, marched across Fayetville to a rally at a
park. It was interrupted by a heavy downpour. Some
brothers were kept on base for riot control duty.
Ft. Campbell (Clarksville, Tenn.)"in the midst of
some of the heaviest repression at any GI project-
arrests of paper distributors, people banned from base
night rider attacks on their house"more than a hundred
Gls and several hundred civilians marched to the mai:
gate of the base and then to a nearby park. They say
that Clarksville will never be the same.
Ft. Lewis (Tacoma, Wash.)"Hundreds of soldiers, air
men and sailors turned out for a whole series of differ-
ent activities which were carefully planned in advance
But before long, rain drove the whole bunch including
a couple of thousand civilians into three barns. The
number one attraction was a dart board sporting Tricky
DickTs face. People felt that, despite bad weather, Gls
really gota chance to meet each other.
Great Lakes Naval Training Center (North Chicago, III.)
"With support from thirty organization, Movement for
a Democratic Military and Chicago Area Military Pro-
ject won a court battle to get a rally permit. Before the
big day, MDM had already carried out a week of activi-
ties including filing crazy request forms for everything
from pass-fail grades in service school to all US troops
out of Southeast Asia, a mass stickering.of the base, a
mess hall boycott, etc. Despite closed. gates, hundreds
of Gls turned out for the march and rally.
Ft. Carson (Colorado Springs, Colo.)"When only about
40 Gis turned up fora morning rally, organizers decided
to send a car caravan on base to attend the brassT show.
The motorcade was escorted through town by the local
pigs, but then told that there was a parking problem.
After abandoning their cars where they were, everyone
headed for the bleachers. When cheers went up like
oFTA�, the brass closed down the show only 15.minutes
after it started.
Ft. Sam Houston, Kelly Air Force Base, Lackland Air
Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base (San Antonio,
Tex.)"Armed Farces Day was celebrated ina local park
but we haven't heard the details yet.
Ft. Hood (Killeen, Texas)"Four days before the big
event the local pigs arrested 24 civilians and Gls who
are associated with the Oleo Strut, an anti-war coffee-
house, and a GI paper, The Fatigue Press, on a raft of
petty charges. Despite hassles with the pigs, 500 Gis
supported by acouple hundred civilians marched down
the main street of Killeen. Army choppers tried to
drown out the speakers and entertainers at the rally
without much success.
Ft. McClellan (Anniston, Ala.)"About 25 WACs and Gis
celebrated Armed Farces Day by joining a picket line
of black hospital workers at Anniston Memorial Hos-
pital. It was the first interracial picket line in this part
of Alabamain recent history.
Camp Pendleton, Norton AFB, March AFB, Edward
AFB, El Toro MCAS, and several San Diego bases
(Southern Calif.)\"Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland,
other Hollywood folks and several local theatre and
musical groups performed for a sell-out crowd of
2400 in San Diego, After the bees: partying on Sat-
urday night, a picnic was held at. a park in San Diego the
next day.
Ft. Ord (Seaside, Calif.)"A new GI organization, Uni-
ted Soldiers Union, shut down Ft. Ord with their first
planned action. After a rally at a local high school, close
to one hundred Gls marched along the main highway
to the main gate of the post tying up traffic for miles.
When the Gls tried to enter the post, 67 of them were
detained on minor charges and herded into cattle trucks.
One small child was also held until pleas that the hot
weather and crowded conditions were making her sick
got under the thick skin of the pigs. Charges were drop-
ped and the official story now is that there were never
any arrests.
Hamilton Air Force Base (San Rafael, Calif.)"Air Force
lifers think theyTre clever. They held an air show on May
12 to avoid possible demonstrations. There was one
anyhow.
Travis Air Force Base (Fairfield, Calif.)."A hundred ci-
vilians attended the brassTs show at Travis where they
put on some guerrilla theatre skits and leafletted Gis
and WAFs. Later in the day, a rally was held at a local
park. Almost a hundred airmen showed for speakers and
music. The day was a first for Travis and ongoing acti-
vities are now being planned.
page 3
I was beautiful. Everywhere people, beautiful peo-
ple, in the streets were telling the whole world that the
war sucks, and were demanding an end to it. A half a
million people gathered in Washington, D.C., 300,000
in San Francisco (the largest peace march in West
Coast history), and thousands more who couldn't make
it to either coast were in the streets of their home
towns telling Nixon to get his ass out of Asia.
Thousands of Nam vets and active duty GlTs led the
marches in San Francisco and Washington. Groups
like oCity College Physics-10 Faculty and Students for
Peace� and oAnother Neighborhood for Peace� and
hundreds of others followed with their banners. Small
children chanted ~Peace now!� as grandmothers, tea-
chers, mothers, fathers, vets of other wars, and a whole
lot of us oclean-cut� types that Nixon claims are too
American to protest poured into the streets for hours
with songs and banners attacking the war.
In San Francisco, a gray-haired woman standing on
the curb read off each sign as it passed and cheered
for each new contingent. She was met by smiles and
riased fists. ~ITm turning people on!� she said.
One contingent was a group of over 100 black men
and women from Oakland singing, oNo more brothers
in jail, no more sisters for sale!�
About noon San Francisco marchers began to spill
into Golden Gate Park. They spread blankets on the
grass, opened bottles, cut cheese and bread, and
looked for old friends while they waited for speeches.
Everyone sensed the power of a quarter of the popula-
tion of the Bay Area acting together against the war.
In Washington, the rally site could hold only one-
tenth of the demonstrators. Twelve miles northeast of
the Capitol building, on the expressway between Bal-
timore and Washington, all lanes were filled with buses
and cars bringing demonstrators into the city, but the
traffic was hopelessly jammed. So several miles of
demonstrators never made it to the largest anti-war
demonstration this country has ever seen.
The marches were peaceful as most in the past, but
the tone was different. Marchers no longer carried
American flags to disassociate themselvés from those
carrying National Liberation Front (NLF) flags. The
only American flags to be seen were flying upside
down, or had peace signs or white skulls for stars on a
black field. NLF flags were everywhere. Pete Seeger
had led the demonstrations in ~69 singing, oGive peacea
chance.� This spring he refused to, saying that the song
was otoo polite.� Someone tried to start the chant,
Page 4
~All we are saying is give peace a chance.� But vets
drowned them out with oOne, two, three, four, we
don't want your fucking war!�
The new tone matched the new tactics of the Spring
Offensive. If the government wonTt make peace, we
will make it with the PeopleTs Peace Treaty. If the gov-
ernment won't stop the war, weTll stop the govern-
ment. That meant staying in Washington and working
together for the next two weeks. It would take more
than a day in the streets to bring the war home.
Even those who couldn't stay after SaturdayTs march
contributed. On Sunday, about 1000 motorists headed
home on the Jersey Turnpike staged an impromptu
stall-in that backed up cars for hours"in a preview of
MayDay actions to come. About 100 people were
busted when the highway patrol finally got over their
shock, but not before the singing, | aughing crowd told
troopers that they wouldn't give the turnpike back
until the war was ended.
MAYDAY IN WASHINGTON
The MayDay Offensive began in a peaceful encamp-
ment at West Potomac Park. A city of tents sprouted
along the river where fires glowed late into the night
and people danced or huddled for warmth"an enemy
citi
=
army had landed in the Capitol. Demonstrators began
arriving the week of April 19-23 while Dewey Canyon
Ill was still coming down. The Spring Offensive calen-
dar called for two weeks of gradually-escalating civil
disobedience after the April 24th march. So 60,000
people were getting ready to tie up Washington and
shut down the government. HereTs what happened:
Monday, April 26 " The people had brought three
demands to Capitol Hill. They wanted Congress to ra-
tify the PeopleTs Peace Treaty, which had already been
ratified by communities around the country, including
the city of Detroit. They wanted the release of all poli-
tical prisoners. They demanded a minimum income of
$6500 a year for a family of four. With these demands
they lobbied in the offices of senators and representa-
tives, and staged guerilla theater in corridors, offices,
and anywhere else they could find. Nine men were ar-
rested for shouting, oGod have mercy on your souls!�
in the visitorsT gallery of the Senate. The men were
hustled outside to a waiting police van. Someone in the
crowd yelled, oThey're charged with disrupting Cong-
ress. Congress is disrupting the world!�
Tuesday, April 27 " o!Tm having a ball. This is beau-
tiful,� said a Selective Service employee as he watched
WAR SUCKS
MILLIONS MARCH
12,000 BUSTED
the crowds of chanting demonstrators sitting-in on the
lawn of the national headquarters of the Selective Ser-
vice system. He was one of 53 employees who didnTt
return to work as the crowd of 500 people gathered
shortly after the noon break.
Wednesday, April " In the morning 200 protestors
joined the 65 who had held a night-long vigil at the
Selective Service Headquarters entrance. When re-
fused admittance, the demonstrators lay face down
in front of the building and told employees they could
enter only by walking over the ocarpet of bodies
symbolizing war dead.� 221 brothers and sisters were
arrested.
Thursday, April 29 " 600 people at the Department
of Health, Education and Welfare demanded
new legislation to help poor and black Americans,
plus total withdrawal from Vietnam. They tore down
a barrier that was put up to keep them out of offices
and away from employees, and took parts of it with
them as they marched to the White House. In this ac-
tion 224 were ripped off by police.
Friday, April 30 " Over 2000 protestors surrounded
the Justice Department and blocked all entrances with
a sit-in. oIl think we've arrested the FBI,� shouted one
demonstrator. oItTs called preventive detention. Now
we set bail. WhatTs Hoover's bail?� oThe end of the
war,� someone shouted back.
Saturday, May 1 " Now the pressure was building.
Over 60,000 protestors"freaks, street people and vets"
crammed into West Potomac Park for the rock festival
which kicked off MayDay activities. The government
massed 10,000 troops for deployment in the nationTs
capitol. When people heard it was the 82d Airborne,
they cheered.
Sunday, May 2 " The government freaked during the
night, and at dawn withdrew the camping permit for
the park. People were ordered to clear out before noon
or face arrest. With tear gas and clubs, 2600 police
cleared 60,000 sleepy demonstrators from the park and
arrested 90. People split for other parts of the city,
while the government thought it had won by driving
people home. A womenTs march through the city was
broken up, regrouped, and broken up again since the
permit was for a march of less than 2000 and a whole
lot more showed up.
Monday, May 3 " Despite the government's attempts
to stop the MayDay actions, at least 17,000 people
were in the streets early Monday morning. They block-
aded dozens of streets and disrupted traffic. Purposely
wayward pedestrians had cars backed up for dozens of
blocks. Many drivers ostalled� their cars. One person
held back a huge US mail truck and exchanged small
talk with the brothers driving it. That kind of coopera-
tion was common"Washington workers found their
own ways to join the people in the streets.
But the police trapped people between barrages of
gas and police vans, and arrested them without char-
ging them with any crime. It was the largest bust in
American history"over 7000 people"and all illegal.
Normal arrest procedures were ignored; there was no
way to tell where, when, or how thousands committed
alleged offenses. Hundreds of non-demonstrators"gov-
ernment employees, housewives, reporters, and an off-
duty cop"were also arrested and held without charges
or bail for several hours in detention centers. Washing-
ton courts determined that nearly all the arrests were
illegal.
Tuesday, May 4 " In spite of the tactics used by the
government the day before, 5000 protestors met for a
noon rally and started a march to the Justice Depart-
ment to demand release of all political prisoners. Two
thousand were arrested.
Wednesday, May 5 " With total arrests near 10,000,
several thousand more people massed on marble steps
outside the House of Representatives to demand that
Congress ratify the PeopleTs Peace Treaty, signed al-
ready by at least 100,000 Americans and countless
Vietnamese. By late afternoon, nearly 1200 more were
jailed for unlawful assembly on the Capitol grounds.
By now, 12,000 had been arrested, many for the sec-
ond time since people were being released on $10 bail.
But the peoplesT spirits couldn't be broken, even in jail.
Jail conditions were horrible"little food or water,
cramped quarters, and inadequate blankets for out-
door sleeping. People passed their time singing, chant-
ing rapping. They made friends with the Gls assigned
to guard them. These Gls let it be known whose side
they were on by collecting bail money, sharing food,
playing frisbee, and by turning their backs while some
brothers and sisters liberated themselves with wire
cutters.
WAS MAYDAY SUCCESSFUL?
Washington and its government didnTt stop, but it
suffered. Naturally, government officials werenTt into
saying how many employees didnTt work on the main
target days of Monday and Tuesday. But a spokesman
for the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade admit-
ted to us that stores suffered a osubstantial decrease in
business.� Mr. Rich, President of RichTs Shoes, said the
demonstrators dealt a oterrific economic blow to the
whole city.� GarfinkelTs (a large dept store) sales were
off 40%, pretty typical of all businesses. So economi-
cally Washington was hurting.
But more important, the war was brought home to
people not only in Washington but across the country
. .during MayDay. How did people feel about it?
oNo,� a woman said smiling. oITm not going to work.
Neither is anybody on this street. There's all this hap-
pening around the city...And you know we donTt want
this war.� '
On one street people started to open the hoods cf
passing cars, forcing their drivers to stop and close
them. One scared, middle-aged driver had his hood
opened. But after he stopped, he smiled and offered a
lift to the three people who'd opened the hood. They
hopped in.
Passers-by would shout to the people, oKeep up the
good work!� or wave, or gave aV sign ora fist.
A bank teller said, oLet me tell you about what | saw
yesterday. There were all these groups of young people,
just walking in the streets and stopping traffic. All of a
sudden a group of policemen charged and arrested a
lot. They grabbed one boy and beat him and beat him.
| DON'T KNOW IF I'll ever be able to trust a policeman
again.�
Another teller, an older woman, when told that 73%
of the American people want withdrawal by the end of
the year said, oOnly 73%? ITm sure it must be much
more than that.�
Some demonstrators were put up by Creighton
AbramTs nephew (Abrams is commander of MACVN).
One person who was put up said, oHe was freaked by
the way he had seen cops beating on people the day
before.�
Hundreds of organizations in the Black and Puerto
Rican communities had demanded action to halt the
street sweeps, gassings, beatings and illegal detentions
of thousands of demonstrators and others. Complaints
were sent in by the hundreds.
Ata press conference, Mrs. Treadwell, program direc-
tor of Youth Pride, Inc., said the black community
supported the objectives of ending the war, racism,
and repression. She also said that the black community
was providing food, housing, legal services, blankets,
and cars for the people in the streets. After the press
conference a motorcade left for one of the detention
camps with food.
After WednesdayTs actions, most of the sisters and
brothers who invaded Washington headed for home.
But it wasnTt the end"only the beginning of new actions
against the war everywhere. One of the MayDay leaders
Rennie Davis, said pretty much what most people
were feeling: oThey are going to have to jail every
young personjin American before we are stopped.� [|
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Washington wasn't the only city with MayDay-actions. Across the entire country people were in the streets
protesting the Indochina War and remembering the deaths of a year ago at Jackson State (Mississippi) and
Kent State (Ohio). HereTs a partial list of what happened:
New Haven, Connecticut " Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins freed! Charges were dropped after a jury returned
voting ten to two for acquittal. After the hung jury, the judge dropped charges since the government just could
not prove its case. One thousand gathered on the New Haven green _ to hear speeches and songs that demanded
an end to the war. There were smaller gatherings in Hartford and Bridgeport, too.
Bowling Green, Ohio " 400 students camped out in front of an ROTC building and demanded it be thrown off
campus. The camp-in began after two days of antiwar protests which started when 3000 students commemo-
rated the Kent and Jackson killings with a candlelight march.
Kent State, Ohio " There were vigils, speeches, and a sit-in at ROTCTs temporary quarters. At least 2000
students occupied ROTCTs new home. Last year, protesting Kent State students burned down the original
ROTC building a few days before the National Guard fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing four.
San Francisco, California " 2000 circled the Standard Oil Building in the financial district after a morning
of leafletting the downtown area with the Peoples Peace Treaty and talking to downtown workers. Street
fighting broke out with pigs in the afternoon and nearly 150 were busted.
Santa Barbara, California " Thousands of students protested at the General Motors Defense Plant. Nearly
100 arrested.
Berkeley, California " 500 students marched on the main business district. Bank windows were trashed and
files and equipment at a local draft board office were totally destroyed. The next day, a sign tacked to the
boarded-up store front announced that the board had moved to Oakland. Also, five PG&E cars were totalled.
San Jose, California " Five National Guard Weapons carriers and a 2% ton personnel carrier were destroyed
and seventy other vehicles were damaged.
Carbondale, Illinois " Demonstration at the home of Southern Illinois University and the Center for Vietnamese
Studies which trains Saigon government province chief and does counter-insurgency research. Over 3000
people tried to close down the center. Twenty-four hours later, 400 students and teachers still occupied the
center.
New York City " 20,000 students and working people rallied at Bryant Park at the end of the day
on May 5th. Many students stayed at the university for rallies and picketing. At NYU's downtown campus,
firemen were called in-to put out trash fires. There were smaller demonstrations in each of the five boroughs.
Upstate New York " High school students were suspended at Saratoga Springs and Albany High Schools when
they refused to end May 5th rallies and return to classes. At Albany High, students pulled down the flag and
hoisted an effigy of Nixon in its place.
Madison, Wisconsin " University of Wisconsin officials faced the start of the Spring Offensive with a new
law: all assemblies are outlawed. But from May 4th on, there have been dozens of gatherings on the campus
and in town. Students and street people, sometimes 3000 strong, were holding antiwar rallies.
Waukegan, Illinois " A high school antiwar rally turned into a rock and bottle throwing battle when police
tried to break it up. 40 students were arrested, and over 200 others marched to a new rally site.
Boston, Massachusetts " 130 busted as demonstrators were brutally attacked when pigs attempted to clear
away 3500 sitting in at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. The sit in ended two days of antiwar protests
which brought 30,000 to the Boston Commons on May 5. The sit in was peaceful until pigs began sweeping
without warning into the large groups of people sitting on the sidewalks. At the end of the first charge,
thousands of the demonstrators and city and state workers on lunch break began singing oAmerica the
Beautiful.�
Detroit, Michigan " 3500 people marched on the Chrysler Artillery Tank Plant. They make 80% of all U.S.
tanks. The following day, asmaller group marched on a Ford plant in nearby Dearborn.
Columbus, Ohio " Several hundred demonstrators threw eggs, mud and marshmellows at ROTC cadets.
This took place during a military review at Ohio State University.
Eugene, Oregon " In this small town of 65,000, MayDayTs big event was a rally attended by 3000 at which
speakers included both the mayor and women who had been to a conference in Canada with revolutionary
Vietnamese and Laotian women. May 4 was Angela Davis Day in the town, and on May 5, some 200 people
were teargassed by police during a march on a ROTC building. The next, 15 people managed to solder
locks shut before they were maced and busted for occupying the local draft board office.
Seattle, Washington " People closed the Selective Service Office by sitting in for an hour and a half and
locks were soldered shut at the offices of Boeing and other large corporations. Downtown traffic was blocked
for two hours, and the First National Bank building was filled with milling demonstrators.
Tuscon, Arizona " On April 24th, one thousand people marched against the war. Marchers ranged from vets
against the war to the Tuscon Mothers for Peace. About 40 Gls from Ft. Huachuca participated despite
problems of publicity and transportation.
There were also protests in Denver, Minneapolis, Alberquerque, and Buffalo as well as countless others which
didn't even make it in the papers we read. President Eisenhower got one thing straight during his years in
oftice when he said, oPeople want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of
their way and let them have it.� gages
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For six days in April, over 2200 Vietnam vets moved
from the streets and parks of Washington into the of-
fices of government and the halls of justice. They were
there to tell anyone who would listen, oWe who have
fought this war demand that this war end"NOW!PT All
they met were closed doors, closed gates, and closed
minds.
They came from every state and from every walk of
life. Some came alone, others as part of their state de-
legation of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).
They were Black,Chicano, Puerto Rican, White, Indian,
and Asian; students, workers,freaks, guys off the block.
They came from cities, suburbs, small towns, and
farms. They called the days oDewey Canyon I|l"a limi-
ted incursion into the city of Washington, D.C.� What
those 2200 brothers did during those six days turned
more people against the war than anything else thatTs
happened here in along time.
vets called a meeting to vote on the issue. The decision:
hold camp and face arrest without resistance. If ar-
rested, the brothers voted to consider themselves pri-
soners* of war, and to march into police vans with
their hands held behind their heads. They celebrated
the vote with a huge party"and everyone got good and
mellow digging on each other and what was to come.
* The eviction order was set for 4:30pm Wednesday.
So when guys started moving Wednesday morning,
they knew that the more public sympathy they could
capture, the less likely it was that Nixon would risk
arresting them at their campsite. Two groups of vets
moved out, leaving another group behind to defend
their campsite. One headed for the Pentagon. They
were stopped at the first floor office of Pentagon
mouthpiece Daniel Z. Henkin. Before television cam-
eras and the eyes of the world, the brothers explained,
oThis is the only war Where there is no concrete plan for returning veterans. All
the money is being spent on the war.�T a young vetin a VA hospital whoTs trying
to kick a heroin habit, interviewd by a Washington Post writer.
On Sunday the 18th, guys set up camp on the well-
trimmed mall that stretches from the Capitol building -
to the Washington Monument. Picture 2200 stone freak
Nam vets with tents, sleeping bags, plastic rifles, dope,
wine, and beer, pitching tents in front of Capitol sight-
seers and government office workers. Everyone helped
everyone. oHere brother, share some dope with us.�
oLet me help you carry that.� oWe have to stick: to-
gether, man, itTs our last chance.� oDonTt forget the
brothers in Nam.� \It was easy to tell our side from
theirs.
On Monday the 19th, they moved out from their base
camp and headed to the Arlington National Cemetery
to lay wreaths to honor their American and Indochi-
nese brothers and sisters who died in the war. As they
arrived, the cemetery director swung the wrought-iron
gates shut. Behind those gates and behind the tomb-
stones stood Washington riot police. Someone pleaded,
oOur brothers, our sons, our friends are buried in there.
Why can't we go in?� One brother broke down at the
gates as the group turned to march back to the camp-
site. As his brothers pulled him away, he shouted back,
oDoes a vet have to be dead to get into Arlington?�
The next morning, the newspapers hit the streets all
across the country with huge headlines: oViet Vets
Barred From Arlington!� National sympathy was be-
hind the vets. The brothers sensed this, and so returned
to the cemetery with half their people, leaving the
other half to keep things cool at their already-threat-
ened campsite. Under the pressure of TV cameras, the
director of Arlington gave in. The vets entered the
cemetery one at atime, slowly and silently. They knelt
with their fists in the air, while a wounded vet and the
mother of a GI killed in Vietnam laid two wreaths"
one for the Indochinese dead, one for the oallied�
dead.
At this very moment, a Washington district court
judge named Hart ruled that the vets had to abandon
their campsite. No sooner had he okayed the pigTs
eviction plan, than the Court of Appeals overruled him
and said that the vets could stay where they were. Not
about to take this decision, NixonTs aides took the
question to their man, Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Burger signed the order of eviction.
When the brothersT lawyer came to the park that
Tuesday afternoon and told them of the governmentTs
decision, the brothers spoke with one voice: oHell no,
we won't go! Hell no, we wonTt go!�
That strength was the glue which held them together.
While the government waivered this way and that, the
vets knew exactly what they wanted. That evening, the
page 6
oWe all want to be arrested along with Lt. Calley. We
are just as responsible as he is. WeTre all war criminals.
We want to turn ourselves in to the Pentagon.� A black
Air Force General named James replied, oWe donTt
take Americans as prisoners.� That was it. The group
marched back to the mall campsite.
That afternoon, the second group appeared at a
Senate subcommittee hearing on Vietnamese refugees.
Testifying was Ambassador William E. Colby, and
heading the hearings was Sen. Edward Kennedy. When
Colby lied that the number of refugees and casualties
had been reduced from 1969 to 1970, the brothers
drowned his lies with shouts of oThat's a lot of bull!�
Since no one wanted to miss the 4:30 showdown,
guys left the hearings early in order to get back to the
campsite. The press was there. Congressmen and Con-
gresswomen were there. Liberals were there to offer
verbal support and money. Street people were there
to put their bodies on the line with the brothers. Every-
one was there but the police. Time passed, and still
no police.
(Vietnamese for o| defect.�), and sang, oBring ~em
home, bring our brothers home!� Since public sym-
pathy was against the government and for the vets
(a Washington poll revealed that 80% of the people
backed the vets), they were out in 2% hours after pay-
ing $10 bail each.
That evening, as millions of people all over the world
watched the arrests on television, another action was
already in motion. At least 3000 sisters and brothers"
vets and supporters"marched through downtown Wa-
shington to protest the continuation of the war. The
march, which stretched five city blocks, passed in front
of the White House where all the window shades were
drawn. According to a Presidential spokesman, Nixon
was having dinner in the mansion and didnTt want to
be disturbed!
On Friday, the last day of the operation, there was
nothing left for the brothers to do but gather up their
awards, ribbons, and citations and return them to the
government which had sacrificed their buddies, lied to
them, used them, and stolen years of their lives and
parts of their bodies. Six hundred vets, and wives and
parents of Gis killed in the war, lined up to throw their
medals over the police barricades onto the Capitol
grounds. One of the brothers explained that words like
genocide, racism, and atrocity can no longer be dis-
missed as rhetoric. He went on to say this speech.
o..We have asked this Congress for action, and they
have responded with empty words. We spoke of shat-
tered lives, and they spoke of committee rules. We
spoke of commitment now, and they spoke of the next
election. We looked for leadership and found closed
doors and closed minds. Stripped of the hope we had
in the response of this government to truth and the
principles upon which this nation was founded, we
now Strip ourselves of those medals for courage and
heroism, those decorations for wounds we suffered and
the limbs we lost, those citations for gallantry and ex-
emplery service. We cast these away as symbols of
dishonor, shame, and inhumanity, and dedicate our-
selves now to the peace and brotherhood this nation
once held as its heritage.�
The line began to move. As each person took the
microphone, he said his name, listed the shit he was
throwing back, and then said why.
oI'm William Branson from California. | have an
oI want to know who designed free fire zones, who is responsible for haras-
sment and interdiction fire, for defoliation. These men are war criminals.�T
What had happened was this. The Justice Dept. said,
oEvict the vets,� and then waited for the park police
to do it. Judges would no more enforce their own laws
than Nixon would fight his own war. And just as Gis
have said no to the war, the park police said no to the
Supreme Court. As it turned out, a lot of vets work for
the park police and you can believe they weren't
to arrest their brothers. When the good news arrived,
another party got going on the mall.
Thursday. Since the war began officially in 1965, the
Supreme Court had never challenged its constitution-
ality. The vets held an early morning rally on the steps
of the Supreme Court building to ask the Court do just
that. It lasted 90 minutes before police moved in to
make arrests. They said the brothers were ointerfering
with the administration of justice (read othe warT) and
picketing or parading near a U.S. court building.�
One hundred ten were arrested. TheyTd written the
letters oPOW� on their fatigue jackets. and all held
their hands behind their heads as Vietnamese prison-
ers had been made to do. As they were being arrested
and led into waiting buses, they shouted, oChieu: hoi!�
Army Commendation Medal and a Good Conduct
Medal. | wish | could make them eat it!�
oBruce Brimer, Southern California. | hope the war
dies with these medals.�
oITm Ron Ferrise from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My wife divorced me for turning in these medals. She
wanted me to keep these medals so my son would be
proud of me. But ITm not proud of these medals be-
cause my brothers shed their biood.... The Silver Star,
the third highest medal in the country. It doesnTt mean
anything. Bob Schmiel died for these medals! Lt. Cam-
merill died, so | got a medal! Sgt. Johns died, so | got
a medal! | got a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, Army Com-
mendation Medal, eight Air Medals, National Defense
and the rest of this garbage. It doesnTt mean a thing!�
Joseph H. Triglio: ~It was 3~ years of wasted time.
It was a disservice to my country, as far as ITm con-
cerned, ITm now serving my country.�
Other guys didnTt even bother to say their names.
oWe donTt want to fight anymore, but if we have to
fight, it will be to take these steps.�
o| got a Presidential Unit Citation, and now | got a
place for the President to put it.�
Joe Bangert said he first wanted to turn his medals
back in while stillin Vietnam oWhen! found out that
the ~political forceT we were fighting was the people.
We were taught, ~DonTt trust the kids.T ~DonTt trust the
old women. They'll kill you.T ItTs the peopleTs struggle
against the aggressor. But weTre the aggressor.�
When the ceremony was over, the Capitol plaza was
covered with Distinguished Service Crosses, Navy
Crosses, Gold Stars (contributed by wives and mo-
thers), Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Purple Hearts, Air
Medals, a drill sergeantTs badge, Commendation rib"
bons, certificates of promotion, commissions, i.d. cards,
pieces of uniforms, and discharge papers.
oWhat now?� is the question. If Congress won't end
the war, if the Supreme Court won't do it, If Nixon
won't do it, then we must do it. All of us, all the people
who turn the little wheels that turn the big wheel round
and round, have to stop turning. 0
oWe donTt want to fight any more. But if we have to fight, it will be to take
these steps.�
.. IN Congress
Keep in mind that all during the week there was also
a lot of spontaneous activity. One morning, for exam-
ple, ten vets dressed in combat fatigues, their faces
painted white, their purple hearts and silver stars pin-
ned to their chests. their toy guns in hand, marched
solemnly through the streets of Washington, crying,
oWhere are our dead brothers?� oWeTre looking for
our dead brothers. Have you seen them?�
People were really hit hard by this"people like Girl
Scouts from Pennsylvania, fourth graders from Virgin-
ia, and tourists from Massachusetts. Guys relived
their worst experiences in Nam in the streets of Wash-
inton"interrogation, zippo patrols, questioning vil-
lagers. It hit onlookers hard.
But they also took their experiences and demands in
to the halls of Congress. Just about every day you
could find Nam vets knocking on CongressmenTs doors,
guys trying to convince their Congressmen that this
war was fucked any war you looked at it, and that they
had to stop it. The following exchange between Sen.
Hart from Ohio and a vet from Chesterland, Ohio,
named Garry Battles, was pretty classic.
(WBAI newsman to Hart): oSenator, how would
you characterize the meeting in general?�
(Hart to newsman): o/ would say the meeting was,
uh, one in which, the young men in general came in
with a specific opinion, that we ought to withdraw
immediately from Vietnam. | wish we could withdraw
immediately. But | unfortunately feel that a respon-
sible course is to pursue the President's irreversible
and responsible withdrawal policy...�
(Gary Battles to WBAI newsman): oHeTs just like all
the rest, just like all the rest. That's all there is to it.
We've got testimony that American troops are not
there to benefit the South Vietnamese people.... They
are there committing atrocities left and right. ItTs the
policy of America, the policy of the Army...He believes
in Nixon, whatever NixonTs supposedly doing...He just
seems to be a sheep...!Tm from Ohio. | was born and
raised on a farm in Ohio. | don't care what you call me.
ITm nota radical. | just donTt understand...�
(newman to Gary): oYou think it did no good talking
to him?�
(Gary to newsman): o/t did absolutely no good in my
opinion. Absolutely no good at all. | donTt even under-
stand his language.�
(newsman to Gary): oWhat did he say when you told
him about Winter Soldier Investigation?�
(Gary to newsman): oHe said he didnTt know about
it. He said that he wasnTt even aware that it was put in
the Congressional Record. He said he would look into
it.�
(newsman to Gary): oBut he doesnTt plan to do any-
thing about it?�
(Gary to newsman): oThe fact is, the warTs been
going on for thirteen years. WhatTs it gonna take to
get him to do something about it, man?�
ThereTs no way to get across to you with words the
heavy anguish, anger and frustration of Gary Battles.
His voice was broken, his replies machine-gun fast
and full of feeling. For him, talking to his Senator"
supposedly his voice in the decision-making process of
government"was like talking to a lifer, a man with
different values, a different life, a different language.
Just as the lifer knows only the world of the military,
the Senator knows only the life of the politician, which
in this country means a life of dishonesty, graft, cor-
ruption, money, power, competition and greed. No
wonder Gary didnTt understand his language. Gary and
the Senator live in two different worlds.
ba
Only nine months ago, in the fall of 1970, another
group of veterans found themselves fighting against
the government they'd only just finished fighting for.
Like the vets in Washington, they had been forced into
the military either directly by the draft, or indirectly by
having to choose between being broke/going to jail/
hustling on the block and serving time in the Armed
Forces. Like the vets in Washington, they had been
forced to fight a war they didnTt want to fight at all.
Like the vets in Washington, they felt abandon and un-
cared for by the government which had used them and
then thrown them away. Like the vets in Washington,
they organized demonstrations against the war and
many were arrested. These vets are ex-soldiers of the
Saigon regime (ARVN), and some of their people are
still being held in Saigon prisons today.
HereTs a short rundown of what the Saigon vets have
been through. For years and years the Thieu-Ky.dic-....
tatorship hasn't even bothered to respond to the Sai-
gon vetsT request for a roof to live under. So the vets
set up a city of cardboard houses just outside Saigon,
and called it Minh Mang village. By the summer of
1970, they had built 800 houses. Thieu-Ky decided that
Minh Mang village had to go, and ordered Saigon po-
lice to Knock down the houses. On September 3, war
invalids, veterans and their families demonstrated in
the streets of Saigon against this inhuman treatment.
Thieu and Ky called up a number of Ranger and MP
units, fights broke out, and several people were injured.
The next day, a thousand Thieu-Ky police, backed up
by armored vehicles, broke through the cardboard vil-
age, knocking down houses, shooting those who re-
sisted, and arresting the rest. On September 6, more
police raided the area where the now-homeless people
had gathered, and arrested many more. These actions
by the Saigon government led members of the families
of war dead in Saigon to pledge publically to burn
themselves to death or disembowel themselves if the
dictatorshipTs brutality continued.
As the fall wore on, resistance in Saigon to the
Thieu-Ky regime increased. Workers, students, repor-
ters, lawyers, engineers, women, teachers, as well as
war invalids and vets now opposed the Saigon govern-
ment. On October 24, members of vets and war-woun-
ded organizations began a 96 hour hunger strike to
protest repression and the war. On October 28, seven
war-wounded vets whose patience had run out slashed
their wrists to get blood to write three letters of protest
with. They warned Thieu-Ky that unless they stopped
pulling down their houses and set free all ex-soldiers
illegally arrested, that they would cut off one of their
fingers each day and present them to them.
That winter, the vets joined together with many dif-
ferent groups in Saigon which also opposed the Thieu-
Ky regime, and formed the oPeopleTs Front to Secure
Peace in Vietnam.� The group had one demand"that
all American and allied troops pull out of South Viet-
nam to let the Vietnamese settle their own affairs.
SHEP RNAS BA 2 LBD NES RAINS EET AERA EE TESS | RI
After Nixon remarked to newsmen that
only 30% of the guys were vets, a 20-
year-old vet from Ohio named oTick�
presented his credentials. oJ was retired
from the Marines when I was 19. I have
no discharge papers, so I offered to put
my glass eye in. It was all I had, but they
said no. They didnTt want it.�
page 7
THE RAPE
OF OKINAWA
KEYSTONE OF THE
PACIFIC RESISTANCE
Since World War II, Okinawa has been a floating
Amerikan military base"and no one tries to keep it a
secret. When you take the two hour bus ride from Naha
Port (the capital) to Kadena Air Base in Koza for exam-
ple, you could swear you were on Route 99 in Central
California; once you leave the Japanese city of Naha,
all you can see are A&W Root Beer stands, Used Ford
Dealers, and high wire fences warning oAll non-U.S.
Military Personnel KEEP OUT!�.
This is only the surface of the rape of Okinawa and
the repression of the Okinawan people. In WW II, 98%
of the island homes were destroyed, the city of Naha
was levelled, and 65% of the peopleTs farmland was for-
feited to the Amerikans to build military bases. Since
then, the Okinawan people have been living under the
dictatorship of the US military. Any decision made on
the island, from passports to sewers is subject to the
veto power of Lt. General Lambert, US High Commis-
sioner for the Ryukyuan Islands. The island is used for
storage of deadly poisonous nerve gas and farmersT
fields are used as artillery ranges. The air and water of
the islands have been used as garbage dumps for poison
gas and deadly chemicals in complete disregard for the
inhabitants. For example, in one village junior high, the
students ran frightened out of their classrooms, eyes
smarting and streaming with tears. A US Commander
strolled in later to apologize because his men had been
conducting training maneuvers and had been using gas
in mock battles. In another village, farmers found frogs
with 9, 11, and 13 legs. Villagers worry, remembering
the day last summer when children swimming at the
beach were taken to the hospital for pains in the eyes,
nose, chest and genitals. People donTt swim in the beau-
tiful beaches anymore.
And Okinawan workers, now landless, are forced td
work on bases in the most menial jobs for slave wages.
Even though they do. all the work, they are not allowed
PX privileges, and canTt even go on the base while not
on duty. Thousands of Okinawan women have been
forced into prostitution to support their families: they
work in the Red Light District, planned by US General
Sheets and financed by the military. Okinawans are
treated as low level intruders and outcasts in their own
country.
But this is only one side of oppression in Okinawa.
The other goes on inside the wirefences. There the lifers
get fat and stay cool in their air-conditioned split level
homes, complete with suburban lawns, swimming pools
and several Okinawan servants, while Gls bust their ass
doing meaningless shitwork in the hot sun. For their
efforts, they face constant harrassment from the brass
for growing their hair too long or wearing a peace sym-
bol. The racist lifers come down especially hard on black
brothers"so much so that many have gone AWOL and
live in oThe Bush�, a black section in Koza. Those that
stay on base put out Demand for Freedom, the GI's ans-
wer to Stars and Stripes, and go down to the Bush to
be with their brothers and escape the manTs harassment
when they can. The brothers are very together, and the
brass know they can do nothing about it. A few months
ago, when some MPigs tried to track down an AWOL in
the Bush, their MP station was trashed. They know not
to come back.
The brass have always encouraged racism to keep the
GI's isolated from the native people. They tell Gis not
to associate with the ogooks�, that they're all sneaky
and are only out to rob and cheat. They try to use Gls to
harass and arrest ouppity� Okinawans and put down
their demonstrations. Gls who refuse to take part in this
racist oppression are punished for it with coincidental
Article 15's and transfers. The brass try to do anything
to keep their oslaves� divided.
But things are changing: The Gls and the Okinawans
both recognize their common enemy"the Amerikan
lifer pigs and the imperialist racist system they're trying
to force on the world. Gls and Okinawans are beginning
to unite and fight together"and it is scaring the shit
out of the brass.
Last winter, civilian organizers, black Gis at Kadena,
and members of Zengunro (the Okinawan Base Workers
Union) got together and talked about racism and the
US military. Black Gis learned that Okinawan women
who work on the bases as housekeepers make less than
30¢ an hour, and are not allowed to join the Union.
Okinawans learned how racism in the military is used
against Gis who aren't white. Black Gls wrote, oThe
page 8
Black Gls are willing to help and talk to the Okinawans
in order te form better relations between the oppressed
groups, because we have so much in common. So why
not get our heads together and come up with a solution
to destroy the problem?�
Soon these discussions led to actions of mutual sup-
port in each other's struggles:
e When the Zengunro struck the military bases last
fall to protest the firing of baseworkers, Gls and Ameri-
kan Civilians posted signs all over the base area asking
their brothers to oSupport Zengunro� and not break the
strike. The demands they listed included: oStop the dis-
missal of baseworkers, Free Oppressed Gis, and All
Power to the People!�
¢ Last December, Okinawans angrily protest when
an Amerikan officer ran over an Okinawan housewife
and was immediately released. In a spontaneous up-
rising, the people burned more than 80 MP and US pig
cars at Kadena Air Base. Both the Gls at Kadena, as well
as the Okinawans themselves, were behind this action.
There was no looting and no Gls were attacked. Black
Gls issued a statement of solidarity with the Okinawan
action and circulated more than 3000 copies. They said,
oThe Black peopleTs struggle has been going on for over
400 years and it is still going on. The same with Oki-
nawans. Black people have been fighting for Liberation
for a long time. So have the Okinawans. Who can stop
you from having what is rightfully yours? No one!�
The Black Gls are aware of the situation that brought
on the riot. And this was truly a RIGHT-ON MOVE.
ThatTs the only way they'll bend.�
e¢ Okinawans, in turn, issued a statement which said
in part, oWe Okinawan people are concerned with the
way the brass informed you of the riot. We do hate
America, but we understand that in the base there are
Gls who are oppressed and discriminated against.
When we shout, Yankee Go Home, and burn your Cars,
we are aiming not at the oppressed Gls but at the sys-
tem which oppresses us. We hate the military base and
the power that puts and keeps it here, not_individual
Gls.
oIsn't Okinawa , except for the bases, a beautiful
island? We want to welcome you to the beautiful bea-
ches, and fields of sugar cane, peaceful in the moon-
light. We want to welcome you as a friend, not as a tool
of yoursystem.
oWe should realize that there are communication
barriers and misunderstandings between us. That is the
PigTs intention; to prevent us from having real contact.
They are frightened that oppressed people on both
sides of the fence will unite.�
e A few weeks later in response to the riot, the mili-
tary announced that firing was to begin on a fire range
near farmland in northern Okinawa. About 700 farmers
stormed the base in protest, armed with pitchforks and
poles. During this rebellion, many Black marines sepa-
rated from the troops and refused to fight. The situation
was So uncertain that the military had to bring in turn-
coat Okinawans to protect the base.
¢ On June 16, there will be the Okinawan version of
the PeopleTs Peace Treaty. Two marches are planned to
Start this day: one from north, one from south, collect-
ing signatures from villages and bases. Gls and Oki-
nawans will march together against US imperialism.
A strong united front is growing between Gls and
Okinawans. If Okinawa is the keystone for the US coun-
terrevolutionary strategy in Asia, it can also be turned
into a keystone for the disruption of that strategy. The
Okinawans write in a message to the Gis, oLet us ta/k
and move in solidarity so brothers will not be fighting
brothers and those who oppress us will feel our anger.�
UNITE AGAINST THE COMMON ENEMY. 0
Ae kt
ie eS:
an American sister throws underground GI papers
over concertina wire barricade in Okinawa
PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE (PSYOPS)
SGT CHARGES OFFICERS WITH
WAR CRIMES |
David Poplin is a United States Army Staff Sergeant,
and he used to work for 7th Psychological Operations.
Seems Dave's been going through some changes.
On May 12, 1971 Poplin filed charges of war crimes
against Capt. Nathaniel Cliett (U.S. Army, Korea Desk),
Col. Harold Bentz (U.S. Army, Commanding Officer of
the 7th Psychological Operation Group), and Lieut. Col.
Neal Brayton (U.S. Army Commanding Officer of the
KS Psychological Operations Detachment. While filing,
Dave was ordered by phone to report to-his command-
ing officer. Obedience led him to be apprehended and
placed incommunicado on suspicion of revealing clas-
sified information. Two days earlier, he explained in a
press conference why he did it:
oPsychological operation, simply stated, is influen-
cing the behavior of people so that they act in such a
way as to support us.� (quote from manual)
oThe goals of psyops are absolutely irreconcilable
with goals of world peace.� (quote from manual)
HereTs what Dave told the huge assembly of newsmen
from all over the Asian world:
oToys, radios that pick up only American Psyops
broadcasts, propoganda soap that reveals seven layers
of slogans as you wash, propoganda balloons, fountain
pens, 7 billion propoganda leaflets, and commercial
products difficult to find in target areas such as fini-
shing lime, and ping-pong balls are dropped over Asian
countries...Leaflets aim to subvert the peopleTs minds
and to subvert the stability of their governments.�
oThese charges state that needless deaths and injury
have been inflicted on civilians of North Korea through
the efforts of US psychological operations. They try to
induce both civilians and military personnel to flee
across a three mile strip of land where soldiers from
both sides are armed and fire at anything that moves.
! feel that these psychologically induced suicides should
be stopped along with the complete psychological et-
fort of the United States in Asia. The United States has
no more right to attempt mental warfare on the people
MINDFUCK
of Asia than it does to conduct physical warfare. Re-
cently the 7th Psyops succeeded in penetrating Indone-
sia with its first Psyops personnel. It has already pene-
trated Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Philippines, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and sev-
eral other countries. Psychological Operations are ban-
ned against the people of the United States and to my
knowledge, every other country in the world except
those of Asia. Our government, feeling that, Asian
people are less deserving of the right to form their own
opinions without intense Psychological Operations,
uses Asia as a vast Psychological testing ground.�
Dave was court-martialed on April 14 for a 15 day
AWOL charge. He received restriction to base and was
reduced to an E-1. Following the court-martial, he began
to refuse to salute anyone, put on his uniform, or go to
work on the grounds that he would not condone the
military system. At one point the brass, in an effort to
control Dave, offered him a general discharge if heTd
only renounce the peace movement and condemn his
lawyers as the cause of his troubles. Dave refused.
All this led to another court-martial, this one for five
counts of disobedience, four counts of failure to repair,
and one count of disrespect. He was put in the stockade
for pre-trial confinement. Dave told them to forget it,
and went on a hunger strike. He lasted eleven days,
even though he was forced to sit in the mess hall during
meals. He was also threatened with solitary because
he tried to organize in the stockade.
Most recently, on May 15th at about 3am, Dave woke
up as he was being slashed from his shoulder to his
chest. Oddly enough, the guard, who was always on
duty, must have stepped out for coffee or something
Cause no one was around. Another prisoner was also
attacked. Both were taken to Camp Kue Hospital for
treatment, but afterward were returned to the stockade.
At this point, Dave requested to be put in segregation
where he thought he'd be safer. All they did was drug
him senseless and throw him back where he was before.
The Army is very uptight about Dave blowing their
game. We feel that his case should be as public as pos-
sible. Letters of support and protest should be mailed
to Congressman Ron Dellums and Congresswoman Bel-
la Abzug (Longworth Building, Washington, D.C.), as
well as to Dave's friends the Hobbits (Box 447, Koza,
Okinawa). Write on! a)
LONDON GI DEMONSTRATION
London (June 1) " One thousand Gis gathered in
Hyde Park in London to protest the war. After the rally
300 brothers brought a petition to the US embassy
which said in part: oWe, the undersigned members of
the US Air Force and Navy, stationed in England, are
opposed to the American war in Indochina. Because
Vietnamization is increasing the Air Force and Navy
role in the war, it is more important than ever before
that we voice our opposition.� Gis have been working
with American students in England to put out a paper
called oPEACE�, People Emerging Against Corrupt
Establishments. (source: SF Chronicle)
MEDALS DON'T HACK IT IN DETROIT
TWO BLOWOUTS IN KOREA
Seoul (May) " Gis wearing civilian clothes had a demo-
nstration and sit-in in Myongdong, a busy section of the
capital city of Seoul, on May 17. The thirty-five guys did
this to protest the US governmentTs war against the
Asian people. Thirty-one were arrested by Korean pol-
ice, and then turned over to MPs. The Republic of Ko-
rea is a virtual police state, and that fact makes a down-
town sit-in a very heavy and courageous act. Even heav-
ler was the action taken less than ten days later by
about 150 black Gis. In memory of the birthday of
Maicolm X, and in resistance to their oppression as
black soldiers in a racist military machine, they held
a militant demonstration in downtown Seoul. But then
they marched onto a nearby military installation, right
into the post commanderTs office, and right out again
after he refused to deal with them honestly. Still toge-
ther, the brothers marched into the base cafeteria (re-
ported to be a white-only establishment), demanded
service, were turned away, and then busted things up.
It took a unit of riot-equipped MPs to break them up.
(source: KPFA News and SF Chronicle)
MARINES SAY oFUCK YOU� TO PARRIS ISLAND CO
Fifty Marines gathered with 150 civilians at the first
anti-war rally in Beaufort, South Carolina. Beaufort is
the home of Parris Island, the CorpsT training center
where a gung-ho drill instructor marched trainees to
their death in a swamp several years ago. The Marines,
along with Gis from the Army, Navy, and Air Force,
were first denied entrance and then admitted to a mili-
tary cemetery where they placed a black wreath on the
grave of a Nam vet. (source: Guardian)
GUATEMALA " NEXT VICTIM PLEASE
The US is working its little wonders in Central Am-
erica where it sponsored an invasion in 1954 to de-
pose a popularly elected government which threatened
United Fruit Co.'s land holdings. Recently US funds
have been used to buy paddy wagons, build a police
academy ($400,000 for that one), buy 8 B-26s and 15
F-51D fighters. The ratio of US military advisors to
Guatemalan. army forces is higher than any other
country in Latin America. .A guerrilla movement
fights on despite incredible repression including the
use of napalm against peasants. (source: Guardian)
THE RAMSTEIN TWO MUST BE SET FREE
Germany (May) " In November 1970, revolutionary
brothers and sisters were travelling throughout W. Ger-
many to tell people about the arrival of Kathleen Clea-
ver and a Thanksgiving Day rally in Frankfurt. One
information team was leafletting on Nov 19, and by
mistake entered Ramstein Air Base. So they backed up
the car to get off the base when a German civilian guard
stopped them and asked for ID. The brothers explained
that they drove on by mistake and were on their way
out. Suddenly, the guard snatched the car keys from the
ignition, pulled his .38, and fired. One of the brothers
returned the fire, wounding the guard. The guard con-
tinued firing as the four brothers retreated. Two es-
caped, but two were captured by 300 German police,
a squad of MPs and dogs. The West German govern-
ment has no evidence (no weapon) and no motive (the
four were there to pass out literature, not shoot a Ger-
man guard at 3:30 in the afternoon). These two brothers
want to hear from you. Write to oVoice of the Lumpen�,
6 Frankfurt/M, Adalbertstrasse 6, West Germany.
Detroit (May 1) " Dwight Johnson was a 24-year-old
black Nam vet who was awarded the Medal of Honor
in 1968. He was shot dead while trying to hold up a
Detroit store. When you're hungry, you canTt eat
medals. (source: SF Chronicle)
ARMY RAIDS OWN HOSPITAL
San Francisco (April 29) " Two hundred men of the
Medical Company of Letterman Hospital at the Presidio
(6th Army Hq) and an unspecified number of patients,
many of them war-wounded Nam returnees, were hit
by a midnight drug raid on their barracks. About a
dozen armed MPs and CIDs in civilian clothes forced
men into halls, tore up their rooms, and kept them up
most of the night without clothes in cold weather. oThe
people never identified themselves. They didnTt tell us
our rights. They threatened us and they broke into our
rooms. ItTs just not justice,� one Vietnam vet said.
(source: SF Chronicle)
BLACK WORKERS STRIKE IN ALABAMA
Alabama (May) " Three years ago, the Huntsville city
government recognized a newly formed union for sani-
tation workers. Since then the mayor has refused to
negotiate. In the past weeks, after the strikers started a
work slowdown, harassment of the black community by
the police and fire departments has led to several major
fires, one causing a half million in damages to a furni-
ture warehouse. Residents of the black community have
been burning their garbage to prevent disease. This
brought the pigs down on the community with arrests,
beatings, and the macing of a child. The strikers are
mobilizing support outside of the city. (Guardian & LNS)
BATTALION COMMANDER PUSHES HEROIN IN SPB
Fort Knox (May) " The commanding officer of Knox
SPB, Capt. Smoot, was busted on an interesting charge
recently: possession of heroin. Two EMs were caught
with him. HeTd been supplying some of the men in SPB
for some time, and apparently was dabbling in other
drugs as well. Could Ft. Knox be trying to recruit sub-
jects for its groovy drug rehab program? Does the
Army want its men strung out behind junk? And how
did the CO of an entire battalion get away with using
and supplying heroin as long as he did? Maybe Knox
is trying to top BraggTs addiction rate. (Camp News)
ARMY DISCHARGES 6 BLACK WACS"ORGANIZERS
Fort Meade (May 31) " Six black women who are active
in a group called oBrothers & Sisters for Equality,�
are being hustled out of the Army. Their crime:they
gave the post commander a list of grievances. Since
Colonel Brinson couldnTt deal with the demands, heTs
getting rid of the organizers. Looks like the Travis up-
rising is going to be rerun at Meade. (Source: SF Chron)
PROFITS UP " PIGS SWARM TO PUBLIC STY
An independent analysis by the General Accounting
Office of $4.3 billion worth of defense contracts awar-
ded to private corporations showed a 56.1% profit. It
looks like 50,000 Gls didnTt die in Vietnam for nothing.
To be precise, they died so that $2 billion plus could be
ripped off from the taxpayer and put into the pockets
of big businessmen. Now your chance oto die for your
country� will be coming up soon because an unnamed
Pentagon official has assured the defense industry in
a closed meeting that profits owill probably increase.�
(source: SF Chronicle)
ROBIN HOOD RIDES AGAIN
Argentina (May 31) " British Consul and factory owner
Stanley Sylvester was released in good health by the
PeoplesT Revolutionary Army, after the company he
owned distributed $57,000 worth of food, blankets,
and school supplies to eleven shanty towns and seven
schools in the poor sections of Rosario, Argentina. In
order to get their owner back, Swift Corporation also
had to rehire 200 recently-fired workers, and give them
back pay, food, and blankets. One Argentinan man said,
oITm all for this, as long as they don't kill him.� (from
the San Francisco Chronicle)
MORE VETS NEED HELP " FEWER GET IT
Washington, D.C. (April 24) " The White House has
decided to respond to veteransT medical needs by cut-
ting the budget for VA hospitals so that 47,000 fewer
guys will get treatment during the coming year. This
announcement comes at a time when more than 5000
vets who've been certified for care couldn't get into
hospitals because they are too overcrowded. (Source:
SF Chronicle)
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN
Vietnam (May 9) " 2d Lt. Rory J. Sutton was kicked out
of the Army for acting like a human being. HereTs what
he did. Rory was living with the men in his unit (160th
Signal Group at Long Binh) and refused an order to
move out. Then he refused another order to stop wear-
ing beads. So he was transferred in early February to
Signal School 1 for rehabilitiation. In April, he and
some EMs who were also there for the same thing,
published a mimeo notice supporting the Vietnam Vets
Against the War actions in Washington. They wore
black armbands during the six days of protest. When
Col. Davis, head honcho rehabilitator, ordered them
to remove their armbands, they told him to shove it.
So Rory got an Article 15, a $400 fine, and a general
discharge. Wonder what happened to his EM friends?
(source: Washington Post)
Although we rely as much as possible on the underground press and personal contacts for our information,
we end up getting most of it from the mass media. We don't like to do it that way, but we have no choice. Since
we donTt have millions of dollars for reporter's salaries and airlines tickets and cross-country phone calls, the
Only way we're going to get the real news about our movement is if you all send us letters and tell us whatTs
happening where you're stationed. Do alittle poking around. Talk to guys in other units. Above all, do it! But be
sure to tell us about it.
page 9
HISTORY
contT
NIXON EATS ROAST BEEF " PEOPLE STARVE
Chicago (April 18) " A Harris poll shows that 65% of
the American people feel that the country is in a reces-
sion. That's only a feeling. The fact is that the number of
families which have had at least one member laid off
went up from 16% in January to 23% in April. Now the
Commerce Dept has reported that the number of Amer-
icans living in poverty increased 1.2 million during 1970
to 25.2 million. ThatTs about one out of eight Americans,
and most informed economists consider that a conser-
vative figure (source: SF Chronicle)
CONGRESSMAN FOR TRYING NIXON
Washington, D.C. (May 11) " Cong. Ron Dellums held
a news conference on the House steps, and said that
Nixon should be impeached because of his policy on
Vietnam. Dellums, along with twenty other Congress-
men and women, is now considering how the impeach-
ment resolution should be worded. Just one week ear-
lier, another group of straight politicians, the Ameri-
cans for Democratic Action, called on Congress to im-
peach Nixon for ohigh crimes in Indochina.� (SF Chron)
YA WANNA TRY SOME SMACK,
KID? THE FIRST HIT IS FREE!
Marshal Ky
Pacific |
Counseling
Service
BLACK MARINE ACQUITTED IN FRAGGING CASE
DaNang (May) " It took two months and a right-on ci-
villian lawyer to get Jeffrey Smith off. He was charged
with attempted murder and conspiracy to murder a racist
lifer major. Jeff's lawyer, Rick Halprin, first moved to
change the place of the trial. He then moved to remove
all the lifers from the jury and replace them with EMs,
espcially black EMs! Each juror was questioned at len-
gth. Finally, Rick weakend the CorpsT case by exposing
the lies of their witnesses: for more details on this case
write CAMP, 2214N. Halsted, Chicago, Illinois
GIANT CHICANO MARCH UNDERWAY
Mexico (May 5) " Brown organizations ted by the Chi-
cano Moratorium and the United Farm Workers Organi-
zing Committee began a Marcha de la Reconquista in
Calexico, Mexico, on May 5. The march will focus on the
issues of police brutality, education, welfare, and im-
migration. Rallies will be held along the way at a dozen
or more different cities. The march will end in Sacra-
mento in August with a gathering of up to 100,000
Chicanos. (source: Guardian)
ARMY ASKS ANTIWAR OFFICERS TO RESIGN
Fort Bragg (May 24) " In early May, 29 officers signed
an ad in the oFayetville ObserverT, a North Carolina
paper, calling for withdrawal of all American military
personnel and advisers from Vietnam by the end of
1971. All the officers were young, not lifers, and mem-
bers of the Concerned Officers Movement. Well, the
brass freaked, and osuggested� that they all resign
since their position conflicted with the oath they all
took in which they agreed to obey the order of the Com-
mander in Chief (Nixon). Wonder what would happen
to an EMin the same position? (SF Chronicle)
NIXON SHOOTS UP " Gis
Washington (May 5)." CIA and government backing of
the heroin traffic in S.E. Asia is being exposed now one
piece at a time. Congressman Bob Steele is preparing a
report that will document how the CIA airline oAir
America� has been transporting opium or opium deri-
vatives from northern Laos into Vientiane. Newspaper
writer Jack Anderson got news of the report, and said
that it implicates a Laotian Prince, the Laotian puppet
Army commander, the CIA, US diplomats, and South
Vietnamese Premier Khiem as direct pushers or in-
direct profiteers. The most complete exposure is in the
May 1971 issue of Ramparts (2054 University Ave.,
Berkeley, California 94704). It's entitled, oMarshal Ky:
The Biggest Pusher in the World?�
DELLUMS ROCKS THE BOAT
San Diego (April 18) " Congressman Ron Dellums has
been stirring up the military lately with frequent visits
to Army bases. In April, he got into a four-hour rap with
the skipper and black crew members from the carrier
Constellation. The captain was surprised to hear that
racism existed"somehow he'd overlooked the different
punishments given to blacks and whites, and that black
women weren't invited to EMdances. The captain had
better keep his eyes open for the rest of the iceberg.
(source: SF Chronicle)
Many servicemen are discontented
with their present status within the
military, but unaware of existing al-
ternatives.
1733 Jefferson St.
Ph. 415/836-1039
Military regulations offer a number
of alternatives by which a serviceman
can be discharged, ranging from con-
scientious objection to physical disa
bility. Servicemen can also receive
non-combatant status.
Ph. 213/748-4662
917 CourtC
Ph. 206/272-7744
The Pacific Counseling Service in-
Oakland, Calif. 94612
514W. Adams Bivd.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90007
Tacoms, Wash. 98402
oVIETNAMESE HAVE CHILDREN TOO�
HUNDREDS OF JAPANESE MARCH ON AIRBASE
Tokyo (May 5) " Hundreds of demonstrators marched
on the huge US air base at Yokota, in solidarity with the
spring anti-war offensive in the United States. The
march, which wound around the high mesh fence of
the air base, was held on May 5, the traditional Japan-
ese childrenTs holiday. A dozen Americans marched
along, and later rapped with Gls inside the base over
bullhorns. The march itself diverted traffic from the
front entrance to the camp, and slowed traffic in and
out of the base for hours. Airmen inside the base said
that the march really fucked up the brass, and was dug
by everyone but the lifers there.
FT. LEWIS & MCCHORD AFB SICK CALL STRIKE
Tacoma, Wash. (May 3) " It was not quite a usual day
at Lewis or McChord: one unit of basic trainees went on
sick call on their first day of training; an entire comp-
anyTs sick call slips were olost�; a training day was
cancelled for an entire company because 35 Gis all
went on sick call. All this happened at the May 3d Sick
Call Strike, called by the GI Alliance in support of the
PeopleTs Peace Treaty. The dispensaries handled 3 to
~4 times the average number of people on sick call. As
one brother put it, oNobody worked. We either slept,
or rapped or got high all day. We really did stop the
Army. Next time, we'll fuck them and the Air Force
too.� (source: Liberation News Service)
PACIFIC COUNSELLING SERVICE OFFICES
Ishii Bldg. 6-44
Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Ph. 269-5082
375 Nathan Road
101F -Flat3
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Ph. K-307991
2-4-9 Chuo-Cho Misawa-shi
Box 447 Aomori-ken, Japan
Koza
Okinawa 288 Alvarado St.
Monterey, Calif. 93940
P.O. Box 49 Ph. 408/373-2305
jwakuni-shi
Yamaguchi-ken
jwakuni, Japan
MONTEREY, SAN FRANCISCO, SAN DIEGO
OAKLAND, TACOMA, WASH., TOKYO, JAPAN
26-E La Salle St.
Cubao, Quezon City
Philippine Islands
1924 Island
San Diego, Calif. 92101
Ph 714/239-2119
forms men of their rights and helps
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The wheel of the law turns without pause.
After the rain, good weather. In the wink of aneye
The universe throws off its muddy clothes.
For ten thousand miles the landscape spreads out
like a beautiful brocade
Light breeze. Smiling flowers.
High in the trees, amongst the spa rkling leaves
All the birds sing at once.
Menand animals rise up reborn.
What could be more natural?
After sorrow comes Joy.
" Ho Chi Minh
oThanks
Mrs. Dinh
AN OPEN LETTER TO MRS. NGUYEN THI DINH
SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE PEOPLETS LIBERATION
ARMED FORCES (PLAF) OF SOUTH VIETNAM
Paris, May 1,1971
We are a group of American Servicemen who are on un-
authorized leave here in the Paris Area. | myself served in
Vietnam from 1966 to 1968. | thought we were there to keep
the peace. When | was on R&R in Phugtau, | talked to a lot
of Vietnamese. We always thought they were with the National
Liberation Front (NLF). You really had to hand it to them. They
explained that if all the foreign troops would leave Vietnam,
the Vietnamese people would make peace themselves and de-
cide on the kind of government they wanted.
This is the first time that the US Army has had a Revolu-
tionary Army in front of them, and they donTt know how to
cope with them. A lot of the Gis think more of the NLF than
they do of their own commanding Officers. If | was asked to go
to Vietnam now, | would be glad to do so if there was some
way it could help the Vietnamese people. ! understand very
well that there are GIs now fighting with the NLF.
While some of us resist inside the Army, some of us have
gone on prolonged leave until the Vietnam war is over. We
are ina weird new unit here in Paris. We really appreciated
Duong Dinh Thao's press conference. He picked up all the
points we are now working on:
"we send out anti-war literature
"we put out a newsletter oACT� here in Paris, and we like
to think some G's life may be saved because he is carrying
some ACTs around with him.
"we also help soldiers who desert or go AWOL, whether for
political reasons, or because of a lot of harassment in the
Army, because of racism or some guy pulling rank or both.
We think this open declaration of your support for our strug-
gle inside and outside the Army is great. We really feel we're
fighting together with the Vietnamese people to end this war
now! We hope you won't mind that we are sending this as an
open letter. We think a lot of Gls, in and out of the Army,
feelas we do. If there is any way in which our support here
in Paris can be of help to you please call onus.
E-5 Sgt. John Herndorn (temporarily self-retired)
RA 13996407
late of the 101st Airborne (Co. G, 2/502), S. Vietnam
BORN MAY 19, 1925
KILLED FEB. 21,1965
BORN MAY 19, 1890
DIED SEPT. 2, 1969
ple all over the world.�
MALCOLM X
HO CHI MINH
blame off themselves. They look good if it looks like
weTre fighting among ourselves.�
Another airman named specific grievances. He said,
oWhites and blacks, weTre all in the same bag. The dif-
ference is between us and the officers. For example,
the pay raise. They do it by percentage. So that means
when we get a 7% raise, and ITm making $200 a month
and heTs making a thousand"well, who benefits from
that? He gets almost as much in a raise as | get ina
whole monthTs check.�
What came out of the thing was that guys decided
that the only way changes were going to be made was
if they made them. Yes, the Air Force is institutionally
racist. Yes the Air Force also oppresses all WAFs and
airmen. Yes, the Air Force is used against people who
are fighting for their own liberation. But asking the Air
Force to stop doing any one of those things was going
to make absolutely no difference.
Airmen and WAFs, blacks and whites, met together
off base on May 26. They decided to start a base paper.
The beginning of a movement is there. The presence of
local radical Nam vets and right-on dependentsT kids
will help. A lot of people on Travis and in the nearby
towns of Vacaville and Fairfield share a real hatred of
what the Air Force has done to their lives. So watch
towards Travis"shades of things to come. 0
HALF THE
en FORMS ARE
"/ THE COMPANY MISSING.T
RECORDS ARS
6URE FOULED
UP! a
OP 2
&
@
ADDRESSES
Hira? 4�,�,
"
LINES LEFT BLANK..-
oAmerica is a society where there is no brotherhood.
This society is controlled primarily by the racists
and segregationists who are in Washington, D. C.,in
positions of power. And from Washington, DG,
they exercise the same forms of brutal oppression
against dark-skinned people in South and North
Vietnam, or inthe Congo, orin Cuba or any other
place on this earth where they are trying to exploit
and oppress. That is a society whose government
doesnTt hesitate to inflict the most brutal form of
punishment and oppression upon dark-skinned peo-
HELP!
Well, weTve never asked for your
help before. But now we need it.
WeTre flat broke, and we need your
backing. One dollar from every per-
son who subscribes would bring in
enough to carry us through the next
three issues. It's not much. But if
we get that bill from those of you
who've been digging the paper for
a while now, we'll be able to keep
going. Without you, weTre nothing.
Support us. O
No More Kent States
We, the undersigned, are National Guardsmen /Reservists.
Last year many of us were called to active duty: the New York mail strike. Black protests. Demon-
strations against the war. Kent State.
We are not proud of having taken arms against our fellow Americans.
We do not want to do so again.
We take this day, the contacto | of the Kent State killings, to express our whole-hearted agreement
against the ever-expanding war, both then and again in recent
with those who have demonstrate
weeks.
We do not think armed force is the answer to the demands of war protesters, poor people and
strikers. We believe there are better answers: Full employment. Reconstructed cities. An immediate
withdrawal of American troops AND planes from the Asian war.
We have all enlisted for six years service in the U. S. military. But what we are doing now"training
to shoot down our fellow-citizens"is no service to anyone. However, there is a real service in America
we would be glad to do. The National Guard traditionally rescues people from natural disasters such
as hurricanes and avalanches; today our nation is in the midst of a social disaster of unparalleled mag-
nitude. We suggest: train our units not to shoot rifles, but to give the medical services millions of
Americans without health care urgently need. Train us not to waste time at useless drills, but to rebuild
our cities. Train us not to fight other Americans, but to prevent the increasing pollution of our common
environment.
That would be service we could perform with honor. Another Kent State would not.
CAPT Peter Sherman, Army Reserve
CAPT Kenneth Frankel, Army Reserve
CAPT Jack Maidman, Army Reserve
LT W. A. Brenner, Naval Reserve
LT James Sartoris Ill, Army Reserve
LT Ed Benson, Naval Reserve
SP-4 Edward L. Smick, Army National Guard
E-2 Steven D. Frank, Army National Guard
PVT Harry Miller, Army National Guard
SGT Terry Moore, Air National Guard
SGT William Stamnes, Army National Guard
PFC Gary Edwards, Army National Guard
PVT Bill Rounds, Army National Guard
E-5 Pete Cowie, Army National Guard
SPT/4 Scott Sargent, Army National Guard
PFC Joe E. Ward, Army National Guard
PFC Lonnie Snowden, Army Reserve
AMN Donald Harris, Army National Guard
PFC Edward Kunkel, Army National Guard
PFC David Cass, Army Reserve
PFC Charles Johnson, Army National Guard
SP-5 Brendan Lavis, Army Reserve
SP-4 Ed Goodman, Army National Guard
SP-4 Howard M. Loeb, Army Reserve
E-5 Jim Clark, Army National Guard
E-5 John Jenkins, Army National Guard
E-4 Cliff Redmon, Army National Guard
James Kurachka, Army Reserve
SP-4 James Hummer, Army National Guard
SN Brian Hayes, Naval Reserve
SP-4 Jerry Lembcke, Army Reserve
PS2 H. W. Darmsdadt, Coast Guard Reserve
E-4 Thomas Rieke, Army Reserve
SGT Martin Fleisher, Air Force Reserve
PFC Jeffrev London, Army Reserve
PFC John Malone, Marine Reserve
SGT Stephen West, Air Force Reserve
PFC William Gabler, Army Reserve
QM-3 Lawrence Fisher, Naval Reserve
SP-4 Danford Grant Schow, Army Reserve
SGT Michael Ryan, Air Force Reserve
SP-4 William LeBlanc, Army Reserve
SP-5 Kevin O'Keefe, Army Reserve
EN-3 Steven April, Coast Guard Reserve
SGT Michael MacLaurin, Army Reserve
E-1 James R. Williams, Army Reserve
Partial list of signers:
(Full list available on request)
CAPT Sam F. Davenport, Air Force Reserve
CAPT Charles Naness, Air Force Reserve
LT Ernest Notar, Naval Reserve
LT David Lamenzo, Army Reserve
LT James Santana, Army Reserve
AIC Mario Guarneri, Air National Guard
PV2 Robert Sterin, Army National Guard
Bruce Wolff, Army Reserve
E-4 Terry Taylor, Army Reserve
SP-5 Allen Petrich, Army Reserve
Douglass Hilfield, Army National Guard
SP-4 Donald Jensen, Army National Guard
SP-4 Paul Nester, Army National Guard
PFC Dante Venturi, Army Reserve
SP-4 Robert Bernius, Army National Guard
SP-4 James Szyper, Army National Guard
E-6 Michael Goff, Army Reserve
PFC Henry Coudlen, Army Reserve
SSGT Dennis Harford, Army National Guard
E-1 William Shannon, Army Reserve
PFC Richard Stefaniak, Army Reserve
SP-4 Robert Holloway, Army Reserve
E-4 Heinz Stucki, Army Reserve
E-5 Harold Fawthrop, Jr., Army Reserve
E-2 Robert Rothermel, Army Reserve
L/CPL Glenn Seymour, Marine Reserve
E-4 Peter Marvin, Army Reserve
E-4 Ronald A. Hall, Army Reserve
E-4 Timothy Carney, Army Reserve
E-4 Allen D. Israel, Army Reserve
PFC Maurice Wolohan, Army Reserve
E-3 Michael P. King, Army Reserve
L/CPL Scott Novak, Marine Reserve
PFC R. D. Piety, Army Reserve
HM-2 Steve Plath, Naval Reserve
E-3 David |. Siegal, Army Reserve
E-4 Tom Cohen, Army Reserve
E-3 Steve Winn, Army Reserve
PFC Tim Beatty, Marine Reserve
CPL Richard Lloyd, Marine Reserve
CPL John Wright, Marine Reserve
E-2 Thomas Strauss, Army Reserve
PFC Jerry Grunnagle, Marine Reserve
E-3 Harry D. Gois, Army Reserve
SP-4 Mark A. Levy, Army Reserve
SP-4 Stephen O. Rothschild, Army Reserve
MAJ Kenneth Mayers, Marine Reserve
MAJ William Shyne, Army Reserve
CAPT Robert Thomas, Army Reserve
LT Reginald Young, Naval Reserve
LT Daniel Vellucci, Army Reserve
LT Charles, Naval Reserve
LT Matthew Mark Gallo, Army Reserve
2LT Lynn Williams, Army Reserve
2LT Richard Lehmann, Army Reserve
2LT Peter Lokhammer, Air Force Reserve
AIC Ralph Smith, Air National Guard
E-3 Loren W. Brown, Army National Guard
E-3 Chris Reither, Army National Guard
PFC Michael E. White, Army National Guard
L/CPL Roger Wintle, Marine Reserve
E-3 Robert T. Carlson, Army Reserve
E-3 George Strutt, Army Reserve
E-3 Thomas O'Connor, Jr., Army Reserve
L/CPL James Draper, Marine Reserve
E-3 Robert M. Stacy, Army Reserve
PV3 Bruce Andrews, Army Reserve
E-3 Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Army Reserve
SP-4 Michael Jackson, Army Reserve
E-2 David Roiger, Army Reserve
E-3 Frederic Chiles, Army Reserve
E-4 Dale M. Fleck, Army Reserve
E-4 Jere J. Willey, Army Reserve
SP-5 Charles Whatley, Army Reserve
E-4 Larry J. Lacerte, Army Reserve
SP-4 William Maderer, Army Reserve
E-4 Dennis Stevens, Army Reserve
E-4 Donald Kowalewshy, Army Reserve
AIC Douglas Frazier, Air Force Reserve
E-4 George Pfundheller, Army Reserve
E-4 Douglas Hartley, Army Reserve
CPL Gene Edward Burch, Marine Reserve
SGT Richard Ciraillo, Army Reserve
E-4 Ronald B. Davis, Army Reserve
E-2 Joseph Fischgrund, Army Reserve
E-4 Mark J. Fiorentino, Army Reserve
E-3 Robert Kjoller, Army Reserve
E-4 Paul Merrill, Army Reserve
PFC Marc Rosen, Army Reserve
SP-4 Harry Wiland, Army Reserve
E-5 Steve McColbugh, Marine Reserve
E-4 David Surles, Army Reserve