Download PDF of this full issue: v3n9.pdf (8.9 MB)

A War Resister Is Home

By VVAW

After five years in Sweden, a war resister is home. Dick Bucklin left the U.S. Army in 1968 and truned himself in for courts-martial at Ft. Carson, Colorado on October 4, 1973. The result of Dick's action will most likely cost him three years in the Ft. Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks.

Bucklin, 28, grew up in a working class North Denver neighborhood and was drafted on his 22nd birthday December 15, 1967. He felt much the same way about the war in Vietnam as other young men of his time: "I've read somewhere that Johnson thought the country had gotten to where it's goals were fuzzy and he thought a little war would set it right. At that time I thought a little war might be what I needed, too."

But after basic training at Fort Bliss and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Huachuca, Bucklin realize that something was wrong with the military, the country, and the war. He was shipped to the 122nd Maintenance Battalion near Hanau, West Germany where he made the decision to go to Sweden "to deny the Army the use of my labor and body in support of the war."

"Not until I was in the Army did I really begin to understand what was happening both to me and the country. What could only be called a kind of corruption was best personified by officers... These creatures would bomb anything, kill anybody, follow any order, and all for just money and medals and to be a winner."

"During the AIT, I came to the final decision that the only way I could resist and make a positive statement was to leave and deny them the use of my body, my labor." While on leave in Copenhagen, two months after reaching his station in Germany, Bucklin left for Sweden.

The issue of unconditional amnesty for all war resisters Is growing across the country. Dick Bucklin has decided to leave the sanctuary in Sweden and voluntarily submit to court martial in order to make amnesty more than an issue, to make amnesty a reality.

A Defense Committee has already been established in Denver with the aid of VVAW/WSO, the Rocky Mountain Military Project, and the National Lawyers Guild. And the Defense Committee needs help. VVAW/WSO needs to make the Bucklin case a nationally known and talked about issue; we need to put our energies into making amnesty an organizing program in every locality. Contributions of time, and of course money are desperately needed now by the Defense Committee. For further information, contact: Colorado VVAW/WSO, P.O. Box 18591, Denver, Co. 80203. (303) 534-6285.