Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Keith Mather Keith Mather: Reminiscences of the Presidio 27 Presidio Trust Oral History Project The Presidio 27 Interviews conducted by Barbara Berglund Sokolov in 2018 Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley ii Since 1953 the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Keith Mather dated August 17, 2018. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. For information regarding quoting, republishing, or otherwise using this transcript, please consult http://ucblib.link/OHC-rights. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Keith Mather, "Keith Mather: Reminiscences of the Presidio 27" conducted by Barbara Berglund Sokolov in 2018, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2021. Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iii Keith Mather, 2018 Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iv Abstract Keith Mather was born in 1946 in San Mateo, California. He was drafted in the Army in 1967 during the Vietnam War. He completed Basic Training in Fort Lewis, Washington. He did not return after a Christmas break and was considered AWOL. He joined the War Resisters League and the Nine for Peace demonstration at a church in San Francisco, California. He was arrested for going AWOL and imprisoned in the Presidio Stockade. After an Army prison guard shot and killed prisoner Richard Bunch, Mather participated in the Presidio 27 protest on October 14, 1968. After the trial, he escaped the stockade and fled to Canada. He has since returned to the United States and served the remainder of his sentence. In this interview, Mather discusses his early life; education; relationship with his parents; experience being drafted; completing Basic Training; decision to go AWOL; conditions he endured in the Stockade; dynamics between prisoners; the shooting of Filinako Hemphill; the death of Richard Bunch; organizing the Presidio 27 and participating in the protest; the fallout and trial; decision to escape the stockade; fleeing to Canada; reasons for returning to California; serving the remainder of his sentence; and processing the trauma he experienced during the Vietnam War. Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley v Table of Contents Presidio Trust Oral History Project History viii Interview 1: July 31, 2018 Hour 1 1 Birth on November 30, 1946 in San Mateo, California — Move to Sterling, Colorado at age one — Earliest memories — Move to San Bruno, California — Distribution of wealth in San Bruno — Relationship with father during teenage years — Role and influence of religion in family life — Maternal grandfather — Memories of elementary school — Absence at school because of rheumatic fever — Move to California serving as an "awakening" — Expulsion from school and adolescent "rebellious streak" — Physical fights in high school — Arrest at eighteen years old — Theft of a car at sixteen years old — Aspirations in gymnastics and dancing — Decision to do the GED — Family's views of the Vietnam War — Struggle with the idea of being drafted — Driveaway from Los Angeles to New York — Trip to Toronto — Hitchhiking back home from Toronto — Getting drafted in 1967 — Family's reaction to Mather's draft — Pleasant memories of life after high school Hour 2 22 Basic training in Fort Lewis and first impressions of the military — Challenging drills — Going home for Christmas and returning late — Wanting and plotting how to leave the military — Running away from the service and going AWOL — Feelings of paranoia in light of FBI searches — Reaching out to the War Resisters League — Father's reaction to Mather going AWOL — The Nine for Peace — Reverend Phil Farnham's role in the protest — Impact of Nine for Peace experience on Mather's political understanding — Jack Robinson's twenty-eight- day fast — Consequences and punishments for the Nine for Peace participants — Decision to be part of the Nine for Peace — Power and support surrounding the Nine for Peace Interview 2: August 14, 2018 Hour 1 39 First time going AWOL during training — Ways of being punished after going AWOL — Punishment after going back after the Nine for Peace — Being singled out in the group in terms of consequences — Conditions and overcrowding in the Presidio Stockade — Acts of defiance in the stockade — Response to various forms of nonviolent protesting in the jail — Fighting against solitary incarceration within the jail — Suicidal tendencies within the stockade — Shooting of Filinako Hemphill — Influence of music — Watching Soul Train in the stockade — More fond memories in the stockade — Getting visitors in the stockade — Relationship Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley vi with Adrienne Fong — Putting the uniform back on to be tried — Walter Pawlowski — Reason for Pawlowski's arrest — Richard Bunch's death — Coming to terms with what had happened to Bunch — Rebellion throughout the prison after the Bunch shooting Hour 2 63 Events that led up to the Presidio mutiny — How the mutiny was executed — Significance of the prisoners singing and linking arms — Reasons for participating in the mutiny — Helping to organize the Presidio 27 — Emotions and feelings when the mutiny began — Attending Bunch's funeral service — Being put in solitary confinement after the mutiny — Feelings surrounding mutiny charge — Personal belief regarding reason for mutiny charge — Sentences for a "nonviolent demonstration within a stockade" — How the Presidio 27 escalated the GI movement — Ronald Lockman's story — Decision and plan to escape the stockade — Trial and being sentenced — Treatment while being transported to different trial locations — Demographic of the stockade — Discussion with Steve Reese — What Mather wants to be remembered about the Presidio 27 — Importance in remembering the resistance to the Vietnam War — Personal effect of involvement in the Presidio 27 — Every participant as a leader of the mutiny Interview 3: August 16, 2018 Hour 1 78 Memories of the trial — Jack Robinson being called as witness — Interaction with legal counsel during the trial — Official charges — Shows of resistance in the Presidio Stockade — Other witnesses — Press coverage of the trial — Trials becoming referendums on issues surrounding the war — Knowing he was going to be found guilty even before getting the verdict — Sentence of four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge — Story of the leather ring — Reaching out to and remaining friends with the woman who gave him the ring — Different supporters during the trial — Arrest of protesters at the end of the trial — Decision to plan an escape — Planning and executing the escape — Getting advice and counsel from other resisters — Sharing needles to get hepatitis for escape purposes — Escape to Canada — Being too emotional to see siblings — Father Joe Sontag's role in Mather's escape — Rule against phone calls being made from the downtown hotel room — Discussion with Roger Broomfield on the phone for the first time since the escape — Mike Marino's failed escape attempts — Mather's mixed emotions regarding escape — Other escapees who lived with Mather in Vancouver — Meeting and marrying Nancy LaPlante — Searching for and finding a stable living situation in Canada — Moving around Canada with wife and children — Diverse area of Edgewood — Return to the United States in 1980 Copyright © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley vii Hour 2 97 Moving back in with parents in San Bruno — Family's reaction to Mather's return — Work with the Carpenters Union — Dating — New experiences being limited