{"id":121989,"date":"2018-11-12T12:01:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T12:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=121989"},"modified":"2018-11-12T11:11:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T11:11:06","slug":"veterans-day-reflection-from-50-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/veterans-day-reflection-from-50-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans Day Reflection from 50 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armistice Day \u2014 Veterans Day 1968<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

11 Nov 2018 – <\/em>Looking back 50 years ago today, I learned two valuable lessons in nonviolence.\u00a0 In Nov 1968, I was teaching at St. Francis School in Clearfield, Pennsylvania.\u00a0 On Veterans Day, two other teachers and myself decided to picket the local Draft Board in protest of the escalating war in Vietnam.\u00a0 So, after school around 3PM we went to the sidewalk outside the Draft Board in our usual coats and ties and began picketing: \u201cEnd the War; Stop the Killing; No More Human Cannon Fodder for Empire.\u201d<\/p>\n

We made two strategic mistakes that day:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Know your terrain!\u00a0<\/strong> We neglected to investigate the area of the Draft Board ahead of time.\u00a0 Had we done so we would have realized that around the corner from the Draft Board was a Vets hall with a bar room and by 3PM on Veterans Day there likely would be more than a few Vets who had overindulged.\u00a0 That turned out to be true, which brings me to our second strategic mistake.<\/li>\n
  2. Never make a picket sign out of material you would not want to be beaten with over your head.<\/strong> In other words don\u2019t use 2 X 2 or 2 x4\u2033 wood.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It turns out we were attacked by a group of drunken vets and beaten with our own picket signs. Those of us picketing did not resist.\u00a0 Fortunately no one was seriously injured.\u00a0 As I recall, the police showed up and loaded the drunken vets and the three of us picketers in a paddy wagon and took us to the police station.\u00a0 Soon other citizens who observed the altercation arrived at the station and told police that we who were picketing were attacked by the drunken vets and that\u00a0 we did not resist, or in any way taunt, or provoke the violence. In turn, the police released those of us who were picketing and asked if we wanted to press charges.\u00a0 We declined to press charges but asked the police to kindly explain to the vets when they sobered up that there is such a thing as First Amendment Free Speech rights which the military is suppose to be defending.<\/p>\n

    50 years onward:\u00a0 On Nov 1 and 2, 2018 myself and a few friends had to stand firm to again defend our right of free speech to picket a military public display and tours of four F-22 Raptor stealth war planes at Hilo Airport in Hawaii.\u00a0 Initially the Airport Police tried to prevent us from holding signs and offering peace leaflets to those attending the public event.\u00a0 Fortunately, eventually the police backed off, we were able to exercise our rights, and no one was injured.\u00a0 This time no wood picket signs.<\/p>\n

    50 years onward US wars continue.\u00a0 So must our nonviolent resistance.\u00a0 Join the weekly Peace Vigils and other actions in your local communities wherever you are.\u00a0 Below is a copy of our most recent peace vigil in Hilo, Hawaii.<\/p>\n

    Armistice Day \u2013 Veterans Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A Celebration of Peace or War?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    In 1938, Congress declared<\/a> Armistice Day \u2013 Nov. 11th a legal holiday dedicated to the cause of world peace. In 1954 the holiday was renamed<\/a> Veterans Day and morphed into an occasion for flag waving and military parades.<\/p>\n

    Nov 11, 2018 marks 100 years to the day since the end of WWI \u2013 \u201cThe War to End All Wars.\u201d Thirty million soldiers were killed or wounded and another seven million taken captive during World War I. Some 50 to 100 million perished from a flu epidemic created by the war.<\/p>\n

    *************************************<\/p>\n

    Members of the group Veterans for Peace<\/a> are working across the U.S. to recover the original purpose of Armistice Day. They are using it to call for adequate psychological and material support for veterans, to help them cope with the terrors they have been forced to endure. Above all, they work to abolish wars, not glorify wars. What lesson do we want to teach our children? To become a \u201chero\u201d by going off to kill or be killed in future wars, or to dream of becoming peacemakers?<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s be clear, Veterans Day, like Armed Forces Day, has less to do about honoring the sacrifices of troops than it does about recruiting the next generation of soldiers to be used as cannon fodder in future wars of empire. It\u2019s time once again to remember and celebrate peace, not make more wars!<\/p>\n

    Kathy Kelly of the group Voices for Creative Nonviolence says \u201cArmistice Day gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the brutal futility of armed conflict, the wastefulness of our military spending, and the responsibility we share to abolish all wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

    No More War! War Never Again!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Thank you for your service in refusing to Kill!<\/strong><\/p>\n