40 YEARS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR AUGUST 3-5, 2007 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, INC. P.O. BOX 408594, CHICAGO, IL 60640 773-276-4189 • WWW.VVAW.ORG PHOTO COLLAGE BY SHELDON RAMSDELL HOW VVAW BEGAN BY JAN BARRY VVAW founders included Mark Donnelly, Steve I was mad as hell and nobody would listen. Fortu- Greene, Stan Scholl, Frank Rocks, Dave Braum, Carl nately, I met some other vets who were also mad as hell Rogers, Shelly Ramsdell and others who joined in the cru- and saw how we might get more attention in the debate cial first months of launching a new organization. There over our war in Vietnam by making a joint statement. were 65 signatures on the “Viet-Nam Veterans Speak Before I met these other fuming former soldiers, upset Out” ad we placed in The New York Times in November sailors, angry airmen and mad Marines, I was a lonely 1967. It was a far better and more effective statement, voice of seething outrage. hammered out by a group of vets, than my lone letter to One morning, I read a dispatch from the war in The the editor that was rejected earlier that year. It shook up New York Times that fueled a big flare of outrage. McNamara, who had the signers investigated by the FBI. I dashed off a teeth-grindingly polite but dissenting letter It was read into the Congressional Record. It spawned to the editor. I got a two-page reply from The New York similar ads in newspapers across the country. And it Times defending the war policy. So I went the next step. attracted new members. I dug out my war medals and mailed them with a furious Launching VVAW was easier, however, than keeping letter of protest it going. Nixon’s to my senator, election in Novem- Robert Kennedy. ber 1968 created a My medals came discouraging back in the mail atmosphere for with an unsigned dissent that lasted letter stating that through most of the Senator could- 1969. Americans n’t accept them. I didn’t want to hear wrote a blistering anything critical letter and mailed about the war that the medals to the Nixon promised Pentagon. There he’d take care of. was no response UNDER THIS SYMBOL UNDER THIS SYMBOL During that period, from the Secretary the VVAW banner of Defense, Robert 55,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS MORE THAN 317,000 was kept in the McNamara. I was- HAVE DIED CAN BE BROUGHT HOME public eye by the n’t even called Los Angeles chap- back to active duty ALIVE ter headed by and berated. James Boggio. Then ORIGINAL VVAW LOGO CARD So I upped the the national Mora- ante of protest. Much against my small town, patriotic, torium movement attracted a new wave of members lead Republican upbringing, I joined a peace demonstration. by Kevin Kelly, who found new audiences on college As it happened, I arrived in suit and tie and business rain- campuses in the fall and winter of 1969-70. A pattern was coat at a massive antiwar march in New York City that set in which VVAW waxed and waned on the mood of drew a large contingent of veterans, who formed a highly the nation, news from the war front, and the enthusiasm visible bloc wearing “Veterans for Peace” hats. At the and project ideas of successive waves of members and head of this bloc of veterans was a small group carrying a supporters. banner that read “VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST In 1967, we were young ex-GIs, working to finish THE WAR!” college or start a career. We could not imagine what I was drawn like a magnet to this group. But at the end forming a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War of the march, the vets scattered into the crowd. It turned would lead to. We hoped the war would be over soon and out that a banner was created for the demonstration, but that we could play a role in changing attitudes to bring there was no such organization. That was April 15, 1967. that about. We felt we could make a more resounding It took a month and a half to track down other vets, draft statement together. a statement of purpose and form an organization. After – Jan Barry Crumb, Sp4 US Army considering other names, we decided the name on the (Vietnam 12/62–10/63), US Military Academy Class banner clearly stated our purpose. of 1968 (resigned), VVAW president 6/67–6/71 3 4 5 PHOTO BY SHELDON RAMSDELL 6 A Struggle Continues: VVAW Turns 40 By BARRY ROMO tory books may act like these were small “wars” or “con- An empire makes a wasteland and calls it peace…and flicts” but who knows how big they may have been if we the struggle continues. did not keep Reagan’s feet to the fire. This year Vietnam Veterans Against the War is going to Has anyone really figured out why we had to invade celebrate 40 years of struggle and triumphs. Quite an Panama? In that invasion we made tens of thousands achievement considering most of us did not believe we homeless, wounded thousands, and kill hundreds? Was would make it through our tours in Vietnam, through our Noriega a real threat to our national security or were there nightmares, through the fight to stop the war, and through other interests? As for the first Gulf War, don’t forget the Agent Orange. And yet, here we stand together as a family peace movement and VVAW protested against Saddam after 40 years. Hussein throughout the eighties and early nineties as the No one could predict that when the first group of veter- United States backed Saddam’s ruthless activities. ans got together in 1967 to march through the streets of After the first Gulf War, we fought the embargo and New York in protest of the war in Vietnam that a national demanded normalized relations with the Iraqi people. We organization of over 30,000 members would be fostered. started our homeless stand-downs…feeding homeless We not only grew, we sustained. Vietnam Veterans Veterans. We celebrated the victories in Africa over colo- Against the War is one of the few organizations founded to nialism, racism, and apartheid. oppose the war to survive and continue to thrive. But the struggle continues. We may be older, but these No one could have guessed that what we called Post last six years have been one heavy roller coaster ride and Vietnam Syndrome would become recognized as a service we’re still here. We’ve seen a lot of old timers come back connected disability in 1979 called Post Traumatic Stress and a lot of new people come forward to protest the current Disorder (PTSD). Older veterans mocked PTSD and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not because any of us has declared that we were weak and that was why we could any illusion about the Baath Party or the Taliban but not “win” our war. After all, their war was—according to because we know the lies our government is capable of. them—worse than what we had seen. Yet today the VA Approximately 300,000 young men and women will be and Army are admitting that one third of service men and faced with the nightmares, guilt, anger, loss of family ties, women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan will suf- loss of significant others, and the likes, due to the current fer from PTSD. wars. There are not enough facilities or personnel to treat We led the protest against the use of Agent Orange them and we must demand decent benefits for this because we had seen its results in deformed Vietnamese younger generation. infants. Little did we know that our own government was In 1975 when the Vietnam War came to an end we killing us as well. When we brought this up, traditional vowed to rise up to stop such types of wars from ever hap- veterans organizations accused us of perpetuating commu- pening again, and so we fight the current wars. nist lies about chemical weapons. Yet we did not give up Unfortunately, no one could control the neo-conservative the fight. We continue to focus on the effects of Agent draft dodging right-wing pseudo-intellectuals that actually Orange. The same judge that gave us a settlement against believed they could “right” all the supposed liberal wrongs the chemical companies for these deadly defoliants has which “lost Vietnam.” Naive and with no experience of refused to recognize that the Vietnamese living in it for combat they thought it would be a cakewalk in Iraq and more then forty years deserve compensation also. The Afghanistan but we knew better. So we struggle. Vietnamese Agent Orange Campaign one way we are These conflicts are worse than Vietnam simply because working to help. we went through Vietnam. We know the truth yet we find ourselves in a strikingly familiar situation. Has America — After the Winter Soldier Investigations not learned? This administration is doing precisely what exposed war crimes… they did in Vietnam. Destroying people, culture, and land, — After Dewey Canyon III and throwing in the hell of war. From the effects of Agent Orange to our medals back… depleted uranium the lies are the same. We are told if we — After overruling the Supreme Court… pull out of “the war on terror,” terrorism will be on our — After our continued use of guerrilla theater… front door just as communism will take over the world.