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Memories of Bill Davis

By VVAW

Bill Davis, Veterans Day 2004

Ray Parrish

30 year old ripples

Bill Davis was the first VVAW vet I ever met. On a rainy evening in March 1978, he was the bus captain urging me to hurry up and board in a voice that flashed me back to basic. I was a freshman campus radio reporter joining a group of UIUC students going to an anti-KKK rally and march in Tupelo, Mississippi. When he discovered that I was a vet, he slapped a VVAW button on me. I told him of the help VVAW provided me in assisting a vet with an Agent Orange claim and how inspired I was by the Statue of Liberty action. When he found out I worked part-time as a vets counselor in the financial aid office, he laughed, hugged me and boomed out: "Welcome to the front lines! Good luck banging your head on the VA's wall." I never had the courage to disappoint him by quitting, so I've been doing veterans counseling ever since. And he was there supporting me at every step. I still feel his hand on my shoulder.

I will miss him and, in his honor, I will redouble my efforts to LEAVE NO VET BEHIND.

I returned from Vietnam disoriented in 1969. Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the peace movement helped me find my way. I worked with the Milwaukee Chapter and met Bill Davis early on. Our paths crossed frequently. Through it all, the good times and the bad, I think of him keeping a sense of humor and a smile as he fought for peace and justice. I got to know him better when we traveled to Nicaragua with the VVAW delegation. We posed together for a Nicaragua Solidarity photo at the 40th. I never would have guessed it to be my last moments with him. Life is fragile. Words can never fully express the admiration I've felt for him or the emptiness I feel with his passing. I am comforted in the possibility of a better life – one without pain and suffering. I believe Bill has earned it. He remains in my thoughts and prayers.

I write this with many tears flowing. Bill was one of the warmest, most sincere brothers I've ever met. I first met Bill in the 70's, and from the beginning he was wonderful to know. He and Joan always made sure I was fed at our July 4th campouts, as I typically came unprepared and hungry. A wonderful husband, father, friend, fighter for peace and justice for all til the very end. When I saw him at the 40th anniversary just a month ago, I knew he wasn't well, yet he smiled and had kind words, plus he teased me a bit, which I always welcomed from him. From rallies in Chicago, to beer drinking in Wisconsin, there was nobody better to hang out with than this gentle, beautiful man. Bill was ready, willing, and oh so very able to carry on the struggle. The world has lost a great guy. My thoughts and prayers go out to Joan and Becky.

With love and respect.

I first met Bill sometime around the 20th Anniversary of Kent State in 1990. I was working with the Progressive Student Network at that time and gave Joe Miller a ride there. He crashed on Davis' hotel floor and that led to some great stories on the drive back.

Over the ensuing 17 years as I have worked with many in VVAW, especially the Chicago Chapter and the National Office, I have constantly been inspired by the activism, insight and comradeship of those in VVAW.

Bill has consistently been an inspiration over the years, willing to speak to an audience of 20 or 2000 if that's what it took. He was always open to speaking to youth and able to brush aside things said out of naivete. On the other hand, he definitely wouldn't suffer sectarian bullshit and knew how to deal with that as well. Bill knew how to keep a level head when the shit got intense and manged to do it with a smile. I saw that many a time, even at the 40th.

Bill also never let his views stagnate and constantly updated his analysis to the current situation. Whether it was VVAW at its peak, in its valleys or in its current resurgence, Bill was there. Bill's stories and speeches as well as his actions and his lifelong commitment to social justice continue to inspire me.

I am saddened immensely by the loss of our comrade, but also angered that we have lost a true leader before his time. We should have been able to enjoy the presence and leadership of Bill until at least the 60th Anniversary of VVAW, if not beyond.

It's great to be part of the VVAW family. Nothing can match the joy and passion of those committed to the struggle for social change.

Here's to you Bill. You will not be forgotten.

Bill, your picture is up on the bulletin board today in my 9th and 10th grade World and US History classroom. We'll be talking about veterans' and workers' struggles in your honor today, and we'll hold you in our minds as war and peace cycle through our work this year. Hope it feels like the best of the Appalachians where you are. I know Mother Jones, Joe Kinehan, Emma Goldman, the Bonus Army, and scores of others are glad to see you, but Zoe, Dave, and I wish they could have waited a few more decades.

Shalom.

Bill Davis, Veterans Day 2006

Bill Davis – the name conjures up an image of a big, funny, smart, caring guy...a guy who was committed to his family, to his neighborhood, to his fellow workers and fellow veterans, and to the world as a whole. He could be wildly humorous (as when he described being introduced to VVAW via Pete Zastrow [and Pete's beer-stocked refrigerator and collection of medieval 'pornography'] or having FIVE [at least I think it was five] guys named Bill Davis drinking at a bar together after a VVAW demonstration) - yet he could also be as serious as the occasion demanded. It's hard to remember how many years we knew each other but it seems like forever - from the days of VVAW's NOSCAM forward. As others have written, Bill's compassion and activism touched many lives, and he was simply one of the best people I have ever known. My love and support go out to Joan and Becky at this time and always.

The words desert me as I try to express how I feel about such a devastating loss. Never to see him or hear his voice again is unimaginable.

I first met Bill in the early 1970's. I was trying to persuade VVAW to get more involved in the GI movement and Bill wisely advised that our efforts would be better spent working with the GI's themselves rather than the civilian organizers. Correct as usual.

As we grew politically, he always knew how to cut through the b.s. One had only to tune into Bill's b.s. antenna to stay on course.

As we all know, Bill had a wonderful sense of humor, on occasion he was just hilariously funny, sometimes the butt of his own jokes, but never mean (unless somebody really deserved it).

I remember so many Thanksgiving celebrations (started by those of us, like Bill and I, who had no family in Chicago). At one, we passed raw oysters back and forth across the length of the table grossing out everyone in between as we slurped them right out of the shells. At others he was the Trivial Pursuit sports trivia expert. Where did you learn all that stuff?!

I will miss Bill terribly, but never as much as Joan and Becky - my heart goes out to you. You have my love and support - Ellie

I've known Bill for a long time, like many of you here, from the days of the rather goofy, carousing and always fun VVAW campouts in Wisconsin, to the latest peace march and more serious planning activities.

Along with the fun times, Bill was mainly about authenticity, and had little use for dilettantes. His quick smile and good humor was as honest as the day is long, but was also a hook that could draw you into something much deeper, if you wanted to go there.

To my mind and many others, he was a textbook example of a good working-class revolutionary leader in every sense. He knew which class his feet were firmly planted in, and he knew who his adversaries were. But he also had a wider view of class that involved building broad alliances, of necessity, as the struggle demanded. He knew it was wise not to take on all your enemies at once. He knew the path had more twists and turns than he would have liked, and was longer than he had hoped--but he never lost sight of the final destination.

I drew that conclusion watching him give a speech at Loyola a few years back, as he explained imperialism in very down-to-earth terms to a new generation of young people.

Bill Davis and John Poole

They loved him. Many hadn't ever seen anything quite like him. But he talked about the Harold Washington campaign and the complexities of struggle, and how it was right to defend Harold despite the party label. Bill knew a fight against racism when he saw it, where he stood, and made a few sectarians in the crowd a little flustered. I made a point afterwards of shaking his hand, and giving him a "Right, On, Comrade!"

The last time I saw him was about two weeks ago. We were pulling together the Oct 27 Mobilization to stop the war in a new way, in a way that could bring out those who hadn't come out before. That meant the ACTUAL mass leaders of the working class and the Black and Latino communities--reform-minded or more radical, of whatever party--had to be in on the ground floor of launching this effort, and then they had to be inspired, nudged and even pushed to do what we believed they could do.

Bill spoke to the point, and pledged to get the machinists of the IAM more deeply involved. I knew he was sick, and heard a weakness in his voice, but I had no idea how sick. After the meeting, he came up and gave me one of his bear hugs, and said in my ear, "Thanks for doing it this way." "Thank me?," I replied. "Thank YOU for getting all these union guys here."

The next I heard was that he was in a coma in the hospital, then the following day that he had not made it.

I told Barry Romo this afternoon, there's two lessons here: none of us are here forever, and every life and every moment are precious.

Next May Day and thereafter, if you're around Chicago, take a rose out to Waldheim, to the hallowed ground of the Haymarket martyrs and other working-class heroes, and place it there for Bill, because he now lives on with them, continuing to inspire us all.

I met Bill in 1971 at a VVAW demonstration in Columbus, Ohio. He was recently out of the military and struggling in many ways to figure out how to forge ahead from Vietnam. For the next 3 years we worked hard together with others in building a strong VVAW chapter in Columbus and I'll never forget when he was elected to the national office and we knew it was a new era for him and the organization.

I am so happy for him because from reading all the the wonderful tributes I realize that he lived the life he hoped for. He worked hard, he loved hard, and he laughed hard...but most of all he stood in the struggle for working people throughout the world.

It's hard for me to not just remember the young, high-spirited, and angry man I knew, but I can see that he was able to take all that anger and with the love of a wonderful family and good friends turn it into doing such good work and inspiring many.

I'm proud I knew him.

I had only turned 18 a bit earlier, but here I was three states away with a bunch a Vietnam veterans about to protest the building of the gym in Kent, Ohio. The governor had threatened to arrest us all! My parents would kill me. I was supposed to be studying. I was the first kid to go to college in generations.

Was I scared? Damn right! That is when I met Bill Davis. It is hard to describe. He was happy go lucky, but deadly serious about what we were about to do. Shortly after that the Ohio State Police launched tear gas at us. Our friendship only grew from there.

He was a little older and barely tolerated my support of the Green Bay Packers. We would see each other at protests against US foreign policy. We followed each others' progress in the labor movement.

The last time I saw him was at the big march on May Day, the international workers holiday. We were there to support our sisters and brothers in the immigrant rights movement. We laughed and told jokes at the labor feeder rally at Haymarket Square. Decades later and it is just like the day I met him, he was happy go lucky, but deadly serious about what we were about to do.

I loved him and will miss him. He was a great comrade.

John Zutz and Bill Davis, Chicago 2006