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A Matter of Conscience: Resistance within the Military During of Vietnam War

By VVAW

We are looking for veterans who participated in acts of resistance, either individual or organized, while serving in the military during the Vietnam War, for a project called A Matter of Conscience: Resistance within the Military During the Vietnam War, a series of portraits and oral histories of resistance vets.

In the recent resurgence of interest in the Vietnam War, one part of the history has been ignored: that of the widespread dissent within the military. We hope this project will help fill the void and further an understanding of the Vietnam War.

We are looking for veterans who took a variety of protests acts: refusing orders, desertion, working on GI newspapers, participation in organized GI anti-war groups, AWOL, sabotage, fraggings, assaults, etc.

To date we have interviewed 25 veterans, whose portraits and oral histories have been widely exhibited throughout the northeast and are currently part of a national touring exhibition called A Different War: Vietnam in Art. This project has been funded in part by the William Joiner Center for the Story of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts/Boston, the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund and the Cambridge Art Council The Addison Gallery of American Art and the Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts has recently committed major funding for the completion of this project and is seeking a publisher for the project.

We will be traveling the country the summer of 1990 to interview and photograph resistance vets. We need your help. Please contact us if:

• You are a vet who resisted while on active duty and are willing to be interviewed.
• You know of a vet who resisted the war while on active duty.
• You are a member of an organization that would be willing to help us find resistance vets by sending a leaflet to your members, including a notice in your organization's newsletter or providing any other help in finding vets in your area.

Who We Are: Bill Short was a platoon sergeant with the First Infantry Division who after four months of combat refused to fight. He is now a photographer and artist-in-residence at the Addison Gallery, and teaches at Bradford College in Massachusetts. Willa Seidenberg is a freelance journalist.

Bill Short/ Willa Seidenberg
69 Ridge Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
Call Collect: 617-868-4132