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Letters

By VVAW

"We're being Conned!
"7 deaths from poisoned Tylenol!"
The headlines scream,
And the nation is gripped by fear.
:Dangerous criminals on the loose"
Says the news—
"how many more will be killed this year?"
How many died from the Utah testing
Is something we do not hear.
"Contaminated mouthwash"
The media shouts
But the Agent Orange story dies
It does not reappear.
Three-Mile Island, Love Canal and more—
These casualties are "legal" so
No headlines on that score.
While lethal military supplies escalate
Headlines feature "Tylenol"
To divert us from The truly dangerous state.
We're Being conned!

—Janet N Neuman (who is an 88-year old, long-time VVAW friends and supporter from Washington, DC.)

"Norman Mayer"

Was he right or was he wrong?
Was he weak or was he strong?
Did he do that right thing?
We all want to live with missiles no more,
Stop the slide toward destruction in nuclear war.
Did he do the right thing?
Will someone speak out for humanity's sake.
Deep, deep inside him he felt a sharp ache,
Did he do the right thing?
He gave his life for you & I
We ask "Why did he do it this way, why why?
Did he do the right thing?
His troubles are over to worry no more,
But ours they go on, our worries still soar.
Did he do the right thing?
And the war god Moloch, shall he prevail?
Or shall peace end this agony and travail?
Shall we do the right thing?

—Dave Lipner, Miami, FL. (Dave, an 83-year-old slef described "peacenik" and vet of World War I and II, wrote this poem after another Miami Beach activist, Norman Mayer, was killed by police snipers after holding the Washington Monument. Along with Mayer, whom he never met, Lipner shares the view that halting the spread of nuclear weapons is "the most important thing we can do now."

Lipner had one criticism of the action which might serve to answer the question he poses" "He (Mayer) broke a rule the Quakers taught me in 1932: Don't protest on your own. The individual acting alone is powerless.")

"Humorless-Uniformed"

2nd. Lt Ronald Reagan, a transfer from a Cavalry Reserve outfit and listed on the Post Manning Table roster as Port Personnel Officer, when not acting in or narrating training films, liked to "liven up" his official reports to the C. O.

On October 23, 1942, after pulling all-night duty as the O.D., Reagan typed under General Observations in Inspection of Post; "Very poor place to make pictures. Recommend entire post be transferred as near to 42nd. Street & Broadway as possible. Also suggest several Westerns be made to round out the program."

This fun-filled non-combatant, who now seeks to suppress Veterans' Benefits, goes on to note, under Irregularities & Disturbances; "post attacked by three Regiments of Japanese infantry. Led cavalry charge and repulsed enemy. Quiet resumed."

Excerpts from Hollywood Pilot: the Biography of Paul Mantz contributed by George Langevin, an incarcerated Vietnam Veteran.

Write to George in c/o, Butte County Jail, 33 County Center Dr, Oroville, CA 95965 and especially if you served in "C" Co., 1st Recon Bn., 1st MarDiv during 11-'66—1010-"68. He needs assistance with his trial defense.