Soldiers Also Built a Peace Movement Within the U.S. Military
Timely Stories as World Watches Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at San Diego State University,
College of Professional Studies & Fine Arts Building, Room 350
March 10, 4:00 p.m.
Susan Schnall, Navy Lieutenant court-martialed and sentenced to six months hard labor for leading an antiwar march down San Francisco’s Market Street in October 1968 alongside 500 active-duty soldiers and sailors. Her protest inspired others and from that day on, every major U.S. peace march was led by soldiers and veterans. Susan Schnall is president of the national board of Veterans For Peace.
John Kent, Annapolis graduate and Vietnam War veteran, trained as a jet fighter pilot but turned in his wings and refused to deploy for a second tour in Vietnam. Stationed in San Diego until his discharge, he co-founded the Concerned Officers Movement.
David Cortright and other soldiers stationed at New York’s Fort Hamilton were punitively transferred to bases throughout the country for their antiwar activities and for refusing to forbid their wives to oppose the war. Cortright, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Soldiers in Revolt and Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War. Cortright is currently circulating a letter from American veterans who opposed our war in Vietnam to Russian soldiers, calling on them to heed their consciences and oppose their government’s unjust war.
William Short, a Vietnam War combat veteran, was twice court-martialed and sentenced to the American stockade in Long Binh, Vietnam, when he refused to return to battle after he and his company were instructed to desecrate the bodies of Viet Cong soldiers they killed. Returning to the United States, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Speaking at the University of San Diego’s Copley Library *
March 16 – the 54th anniversary of the My Ly Massacre:
Ronald L. Haeberle, the Army photographer whose color pictures of the My Ly Massacre published in the December 5, 1968, issue of LIFE Magazine, galvanized American public opinion against the war. Haeberle was subjected to harassment and, along with Hugh Thompson, the American helicopter pilot who tried to stop the massacre, was called before a Congressional Committee, some of whose members were hoping to have the Army prosecute them for intervening and exposing the slaughter of 504 non-combatants: women, children and babies.
*The Copley Library event is restricted to the campus community but open to members of the press, who must preregister with Professor Kathryn Statler kstatler@sandiego.edu
Speakers from both events are available for media interviews.
They will be speaking in conjunction with exhibits at both universities sponsored by professors at USD and SDSU; by San Diego’s Hugh Thompson chapter of Veterans For Peace; and the Waging Peace in Vietnam Education Fund. See attached programs or visit www.WagingPeaceInVietnam.com
*The Copley Library event is restricted to the campus community but open to members of the press, who must preregister with Professor Kathryn Statler kstatler@sandiego.edu
For More Information:
Gary Butterfield, Veterans For Peace – 858.245.7700
Ron Carver Waging Peace in Vietnam Education Fund 202.841.2900
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It is so easy to forget how important a role the servicemen and servicewomen had in the anti-war efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These exhibits and their special events are both educational and informative and remind us all that the active duty folks, as well as vets, are often the ones to look to when our government gets involved in these entirely unnecessary and unjust wars. I am still in awe of the friendliness and kindness of the Vietnamese people after all they suffered.
Thanks for bringing this up, Gil. Judi