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V.A. Takeover

By VVAW

"POWs Get the Cake -- Vietnam Vets Lick the Plate!!!"

The Milwaukee Regional Office of the Veterans' Administration (VA) was recently the target of another militant VVAW/WSO "limited incursion>" Entering the building chanting "POWs get the cake -- Vietnam vets lick the plate," three teams of VVAW/WSO members from the Milwaukee Chapter leafletted all eight floors of the VA building. After ten minutes of leafletting and chanting, about fifteen members of VVAW/WSO went to the Director's Office to confront him with their demands. The Director was hiding somewhere else in the building at the time, so they decided to stay until he arrived.

It was not until 30 minutes later, when VVAW/WSO had set up a picket line in front of the building that the Director finally agreed to meet with three representatives of VVAW/WSO. The demands presented to the director were: 1) Full benefits for the 560,000 vets with less-than-honorable discharges; 2) Resignation of Donald Johnson, the National Director of the VA, who has asked Congress to cut veterans' benefits; 3) Restoration of all cutbacks in the VA budget for staff, bed space and research money; and 4) A GI Bill equivalent to the one authorized after World War II.

During the past three decades, the U.S. Government has sent millions of soldiers around the world to help maintain the economic position it cleverly acquired after World War II. For many of the millions who returned alive, especially from Southeast Asia, their reception was a disgrace. For those wounded, a Purple Heart and an over-crowded, under-staffed VA Hospital; for those on heroin a new drug, methadone; for those with psychological problems (PVS), a denial by the VA that the war was to blame; for those wishing to learn a skill, a GI Bill which does not financially permit a veteran to go to school without personally supplementing the tuition and living expenses; for those looking for a job, nothing but more lines to stand in and forms to fill out.

The action at the VA was successful in reaching many people in the Milwaukee area, especially other veterans' groups. VVAW/WSO is calling on its chapters throughout the country to begin militant demonstrations around the demands made in Milwaukee.