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San Antonio: Not Allowed to March

By Tom Wetzler

Veterans Day, 1985, and once again VVAW was not allowed to join in the "patriotic ceremony." According to Chester Konkolewski, president of the Veterans of Greater San Antonio, "They just did not belong in a patriotic ceremony. People who are against the war are not patriotic." We were accepted by vets from all over Texas who came to San Antonio for the "Last Patrol" (an all-Texas activity of Vietnam vets).

When given a choice to march in the parade as individuals or not at all, the membership of VVAW rejected anything other than marching as an anti-war vets organization—VVAW.

We didn't make an issue of the "Last Patrol" having been done in 1972 (VVAW's convoy from all over the country to Miami Beach for the Republican convention in 1972 was named the "Last Patrol")—I guess we're finally not "last" anymore. There was much talk about some of the focus of the new "Last Patrol's issues: POW/MIA's and a Texas Vietnam Vet Memorial.

San Antonio, having large military and retired military preserve has much concern for the MIA issue; however, we feel much of the energy of this issue is being used for "Vietnam bashing" and a lame attempt to finally justify the war. We asked the questions: "if the Vietnamese are holding POW's as 'hostages' for whatever reason, wouldn't it be in their interest to say so and make their demands?" "Wasn't the POW/MIA issue used to prolong the war in the first place, creating more POW's/MIA's?" "Why is the U.S. government dragging its feet in accepting the invitation to establish a liaison office for MIA's in Vietnam?

We questioned the value of another statue/memorial — "Who needs it?" "I don't remember any of my dead brothers telling me 'I hope I get a statue' while they were dying, but I do remember the words, "Goddam Nixon—Goddam this fucking war." How about living memorials?

After the days of vet activities here in San Antonio, one of the vets with a group from Dallas stopped me and said, "I want to apologize—I felt hostile to VVAW at first but seeing how you work and hearing what you say, I understand you really are brothers."

Tom Wetzler
San Antonio VVAW