Download PDF of this full issue: v16n2.pdf (14 MB)

Welcome Home Parade

By Barry Romo

HONOR THE WARRIOR—NOT THE WAR

Thousands upon thousands of Vietnam veterans participated in the "Honor Vietnam Veterans Parade" in Chicago. VVAW participated from the beginning meetings to start planning right through to the end.

The idea for the parade came from the "WELCOME HOME" parade held in New York City over a year ago. Chicago's mayor and city council, noted for disagreeing on almost everything, put on a rare show of unity in backing this event.

The politics of the parade leadership veered to the right in the early days. That was when General Westmoreland was invited to head up the marchers.

Early on VVAW made the decision that it was important for our point of view to be part of the parade; the Chicago Chapter decided to march in the parade and to invite other Midwest chapters to join with us. VVAW cooperated with the parade committee while opposing the rightward trend of its politics all along the way. For us this required making a clear separation between the vets who served in Vietnam and the war that we fought in, targeting Westmoreland as the war criminal he was, and calling for no repeats of Vietnam in Central America. The central slogan for VVAW grew from this understanding: "Honor the Warrior, Not the War."

Vietnam vets came to the parade from all across the country, far more than almost anyone anticipated. According to a VVAW observer/counter, there were somewhat over 80,000 marchers; Chicago medial all arrived at the figure of 200,000 marchers with another 300,000 spectators. By any count there were a lot of Vietnam vets marching in groups according to units of service, various organizations or associations—almost any grouping of vets. There were Native American vets in traditional dress; a group of Black vets carrying a large African drum with anti apartheid slogans, Vietnam vet motorcycle clubs, and VVAW with our banner.

The VVAW contingent had about 120 marchers, including vets of all nationalities, representing all services with both men and women. There were VVAW members from years back who decided that if they were going to march in this parade, VVAW was the group they wanted to march with even though they had not been active for many years. Included in the VVAW group was Charles Liteky, Medal of Honor winner and one of the organizers of a new, national Vets for Peace group.

As has become a tradition in VVAW marches, VVAW took old military cadences, kept the rhythms and sometimes the refrains, but replaced the cadences with political chants. We got a surprisingly warm welcome throughout the march route. Office workers joined in an anti-Reagan chant, and construction workers on a scaffold banged their hard hats in unison flashing the peace sign.

Other peace activists in Chicago took VVAW's suggestions and held banners along the parade route. They were surprised when not only did they have no problems, but were applauded by the marchers and included in photos that the marchers took.

Much of the impact of the march, both on the marchers and on public understanding came from the media. While VVAW is seldom in the situation having much control over media coverage, we did have a large impact.

While there were a lot of TV shots of vets saluting Westmoreland (VVAW's "salute" was for Mayor Washington who stood next to Westmoreland on the reviewing stand), TV stations did in-depth interviews with several VVAW national officers, asked a number of questions about VVAW's statements about Westmoreland as war criminal, and consistently repeated the "warrior not the war" slogan. In the coverage following the march, each Chicago TV station felt they had to cover VVAW's participation in the march.

And the "Honor the Warrior, Not the War" became pretty much the theme of TV coverage. Both in the coverage and in the parade itself, there was far less of the flag-waving, breast-beating, macho patriotic mindlessness than might have been expected.

This parade was by far the largest (so far—already rumors are afoot concerning one in Washington and another on the West coast). While there is no way to know why all these vets came to Chicago, or why all Chicago vets decided to march, a couple or reasons stick out. Vets were clearly hoping to meet old friends, to get together with comrades they had not seen for many years. For so many Vietnam vets, someone we had fought beside suddenly disappeared (if he was wounded he was taken away and we never heard of him again, or was suddenly transferred to another job—there was no way for us to know). A "Vet-stock"—Woodstock with fatigues—provided a great chance to meet people with whom we had served. Again and again came the stories of vets meeting friends whom they thought had died and, sometimes, the stories of vets who found names on the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial War of men they had not known were killed during the war. Reunions were frequent and joyful; disappointments were bitter and tearful.

For some the parade and surrounding events were a way to come to terms with their own feelings about the war and about friends who did not come back. Throughout the week the replica of The Wall—occupied an important position in Chicago, in the consciousness of veterans, and in the attention of Chicago's media. No activity which focuses on those 58,000 names of friends who did not return can push toward another war.

In building for the parade and in sweating to make VVAW's position an effective political force, two members of the Chicago Chapter Steering Committee—Virg McFadden and Dave Curry—did outstanding work. Their work paid off. At the same time, I enjoy the Milwaukee campout more.

Barry Romo
VVAW National Office