Memorial Day in D.C.
Doug Rawlings
For year two of our twelve year
campaign against the Pentagon's
revisionist efforts to distort the history of the American War in Viet
Nam, representatives of VFP's Full
Disclosure campaign descended
upon Washington, DC for Memorial
Day. Twelve of us delivered 147
letters. All of these letters addressed the pain, suffering, anger,
and, most of the time, the despair of
feeling the impact of an immoral,
unjust war.
We gathered at 10:00am at Roger
Ehrlich's amazing Bell Tower installation directly across from the Lincoln Memorial and near The
Wall. At 10:30am we descended
into The Wall with letters in hand -each in a special Full Disclosure
envelope with "PLEASE READ ME"
emblazoned across the front of the
envelope. People responded as we
hoped they would -- they read the
EAST ASIANS KILLED IN THE
WAR" at the foot of the Reflecting
Pool connecting the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Memorial.
We solemnly proceeded down the
east side of the pool and back
again in our attempt to awaken the
people gathered in DC to yet another devastating cost to this war.
letters. Please note: the National
Parks Service puts all material left
at The Wall in an archival collection; last year they asked permission to display some of the letters
we left in their upcoming museum.
At 11:30am we unfurled a banner that read: "WE REMEMBER
THE THREE MILLION SOUTH-
Finally, Peter Morgan, myself,
and Roger Ehrlich attended the
official ceremony at The Wall at
1:00pm. After listening to the usual
speeches and martial music commemorating the sacrifice of American soldiers, we joined a half dozen other organizations in laying a
wreath at The Wall. It was a simple
wreath -- white carnations with a
black banner and "VETERANS
FOR PEACE" inscribed in gold. I
think it went well with all of the red,
white, and blue surrounding it.
Golden Rule Begins Pacific Northwest Voyage
rade of Navy war ships. The bright
red sails of the Golden Rule, emblazoned with a giant peace symbol and
VFP logo, provided a welcome contrast to the glorification of the killing
machines of war.
We were well received and we enjoyed some good conversations with
sailors, who were remarkably receptive to the Golden Rule‟s mission of
sailing for a nuclear-free world.
Golden Rule sails past two destroyers during Fleet Week in Portland, Oregon.
The Golden Rule has successfully
begun her epic Pacific Northwest
voyage. Sailing from Humboldt Bay
in northern California, along the Oregon coast, up the Columbia River
to the Willamette River, the Golden
4
VFP Newsletter Summer
Rule and her intrepid crew arrived
in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday,
June 7, for five days of action and
public meetings. Highlights included a highly visible presence on the
water during the Fleet Week pa-
Portland was the first stop on a
four-month voyage that will take the
Golden Rule to thirty ports in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Reaching way beyond the choir,
the Golden Rule will participate in
four wooden boat shows and reaching out to many groups of faith, mariners, historians, indigenous, Marshallese and Japanese people, and
sailing clubs, among others.
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