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Letter to editor published in May 7, 2015 issue of Salt Lake's "City Weekly": Soldiers Helped Lead Antiwar Marches (their title) John Rasmuson's "Thank Us Not" editorial [April 30, City Weekly] is right on about how the end of the draft has made it easier for the government to start wars and harder to mobilize enough public opposition to get them stopped. Fostering hostility between soldiers and antiwar activists is another vital cog in this wheel. I think Rasmuson's experience of being "ignored" as a Vietnam-era veteran is far more representative than the image of the "spat upon" veteran, which became belatedly widespread in the lead-up to the first Gulf War of 1991. This false image has been punctured by Vietnam veteran Jerry Lembcke's 2000 book "The Spitting Image." A powerful force in the U.S. withdrawal from the Vietnam war was the deep and growing antiwar sentiment among the soldiers. The antiwar movement that I was part of was in solidarity with the soldiers. I could document this reality on a national level. The first antiwar rally I took leadership in organizing at Utah State University in the spring of 1969 was in defense of freedom of speech for soldiers at Fort Jackson, S.C., who were being court-martialed for organizing an antiwar meeting while off-duty. Two local Army veterans and an Air Force veteran spoke at that rally. The largest anti-Vietnam war demonstration in Utah took place on May 15, 1971. Fortunately, it was documented for history by a front-page photo in the local section of The Salt Lake Tribune the following day. In that photo, you can see the front of the march coming down Capitol Hill led by a contingent, some in uniform, carrying a banner that read "Active-Duty GIs Against the War." You can also see part of a second, larger contingent behind them, with their big banner that read "Vietnam Veterans Against the War." Dayne Goodwin On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 7:37 PM, Dennis Brasky via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > https://www.laprogressive.com/vietnam-lessons/ > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
