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A Family Affair

By VVAW

Ever wonder about who joins VVAW/WSO? The following is an interview with three members of the Chicago chapter: Ron & Michele Ghisolf and their 18 month-old son, Derek. The Ghisolfs live in an attic apartment on Chicago's near Northwest side. Ron works with his father and Michele goes to school part time after watching over Derek all day. Michele is on the steering committee of the Chicago chapter and they hold meetings at their apartment. The chapter office is located in their "livingroom" and they both work hard in VVAW/WSO.

Ron grew up in Chicago in a middle-class family where his father owns his own business. Ron doesn't see anything special about his childhood; like most kids he hated school. "I didn't want to be programmed for some job, just learn what was goin' on." After high school he was really gung-ho, wanting to join the Army and go Airbourne Special Forces (too many John Wayne movies). However he was luck because his older brother was already in the service and laid down a heavy rap to Ron about what the military was all about. The main thing was that being Special Forces was going to get him killed and that was something Ron didn't want to happen. In addition, his brother told him about military oppression and that didn't sit too well. Like most guys, Ron did not have much choice about what to do after high school. It was either go to college (if you had the money) or get a job and get drafted (in the good old days of the draft). So Ron decided to volunteer for the draft.

The military is not dumb (if you don't know what they are up to) and they told Ron that he had a good chance of going into the infantry if he was drafted. They conned him into signing up for another year under the illusion that he would get the job of his choice. Another 3 year man captured. At that point Ron did not care one way or another about the war in Vietnam. In fact, he wanted to go to Nam to "find out what it was all about." In July of 1969 Ron was sent to the Americal Division as a mechanic, stationed in Chu Lai.

It was in Vietnam that Ron became deeply anti-war and anti-military. Ron had a recurring fantasy that "...if we were overrun by the NLF, In the confusion I would run right to the lifers tent and off as many of them as I could."

While on R&R in Hawaii, Ron married his childhood sweetheart, Michele, on Vatentine Day 1970. They had lived near each other for many years and as Michele put it, "We always knew that we would get married one day, so then was as good as any." It was in Hawaii that Ron thought of deserting to Sweden but Michele talked him out of it. "I even had jobs checked out and routes all together for it," said Ron.

Michele grew up in Chicago's infamous Cabrini-Greens Projects in a poor family of 8. Asked about her feelings on the war before Ron went overseas, she said, "I wasn't really concerned. The war just didn't touch my life." Michele got involved with anti-war activities thru Ron who was always subscribing her to underground papers. As she read more and more about the military and the war, she began to work against it.

Ron joined VVAW/WSO in spring of 1972 after the bombing and mining of North Vietnam. Ron joined because, "I felt something had to be done about the shit in the military and about the war. VVAW was the only real active group around that I could relate to and it had a lot of energy. I felt that vets and GIs told the truth about the war and that America must know the truth about what's going on. On top of that, I really wanted to help other vets who were fucked up by the war."

Michele joined because, "I wanted to know what Ronnie was doing. He kept going to meetings and I wondered what they were up to. I feel that women must become part of what's goin' on and that wives and girlfriends of vets have to help. I also wanted to educate myself about what Ronnie and others like him had seen. I wanted to know what other women were doing in VVAW."

Now, both are working to build up their chapter and continue the work of VVAW/WSO. "I think more women have to become involved in the organization," said Michele. "Afterall, I think of myself as something more than just a housewife. I have things to fight for. I think women have to work with the men in their lives to fight for the things that should be ours. We have to share in the responsibilities of living, on equal terms. Women have to understand what really happened in Vietnam. I have a young son and he is going to fight in another Vietnam. I'm working to see that Vietnam is a lesson learned, not a mistake to be forgotten."

Ron sees much work ahead. "I know that the American people have not yet learned the truth behind Vietnam. I have to continue to work against what is being done in this country to my brothers and sisters, and the American people must be made to realize what the policies were that led to Vietnam. The government is not going to tell the truth. Its up to the people who know it to tell the people and to organize. This country needs a change, to what I'm not sure, but it needs to."

As Michele put it, "People walking around pissed off won't get anything done unless they get together."