a story about an old war

that could be a story about THIS war. i post this here at the nutmeg grater (i'll also link on ravings of a semi-sane madwoman) because the story takes place in connecticut. this story DID take place everywhere though. while i'm not quite as old as mr lndorff, i'm in the ballpark. in my younger days i spoke out against a war i knew was wrong. just as i speak out NOW about this immoral, unjust and illegal war.

it DOES take courage to stand up to something you know in your heart is WRONG WRONG WRONG

Dave Lindorff: Nobody's Hero: My War Story

by Dave Lindorff

I'm certainly no hero, but since some readers of my last post have reacted by attacking my courage and integrity on the grounds that I "never served," I want to at least set the record straight on my youthful response to war.

In 1967, when I was a senior in high school in Storrs, CT., I faced a momentous decision. In April, I would turn 18, and would have to register for the draft. The Vietnam War was by then in full swing. A year or two earlier, I'd been an avid fan of military aviation magazines, and bought into the whole anti-Communist Cold War thing. But by '67, I had seen enough of the violence being done in Vietnam against a desperately poor peasant population -- the napalm attacks on civilians, the burned babies, etc.- -- that I had done a 180-degree turn. I wanted nothing to do with war and killing. So like many young men of my generation I made a decision: I would fill out my registration at the draft board, and I'd get my draft card, but I would not let myself be inducted into the military.

When I told my parents, who still supported the war, of my plan, they were of course upset but supportive. My dad was an engineer and a former Marine and my mother a Navy WAVE in WWII. My paternal grandfather had earned a silver star in WWI and my maternal grandfather had had his lungs permanently scarred by mustard gas in the same conflict. A history teacher, Bernie Marlin, referred me to a junior high teacher in the school who had been a conscientious objector during the Korean War. I talked with him, a Mr. Storrs, at length, and was very impressed with his story, but I soon realized that I didn't really think I was CO material. I did feel war could be justified sometimes-for example if America were attacked. At any rate, in early April of '67, I went ahead and filled out my draft registration form. .............