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Stop the VA Cuts and Stand with Ukraine

By John Lindquist

Hello to all in VVAW from the "Eastern Front." The Minster Lovell Oxfordshire VVAW Chapter had its first demonstration. There were five of us. One US Marine, me; one Merchant Marine, Les; one Royal Engineer, Brian; one British Army Iraq vet from the Ryles, Nick; and one Royal Marine, Ron.

This all started when Bill Branson sent me information about the unelected billionaire, Musk, cutting 2,400 positions from our VA. Instead of VVAW declaring war on the VA, like in 1973, our President declared war on the VA. VVAW and other veterans must join the fight to support our VA and all the great people who work there. Trump and Musk now want a total of 83,000 cuts to our VA, plus the hiring freeze.

I drew up a leaflet.

1) President Trump and Musk cut 2,400 health care positions from the VA hospital system and have frozen hiring.

2) This is unconstitutional and should be done by Congress. Trump never served in the military. His Dad paid for seven deferments for heel spurs. I was in Marine boot camp with some recruits with heel spurs. Trump is an evader!

3) Stand with Ukraine. President Trump, do not get into bed with Putin. Russia invaded Ukraine. Don't sell out the people of Ukraine.

Each corner of the leaflet had a VVAW shield and a VVAW on the bottom.

I put 37 up here in the village, and some in the market town of Witney, east of us. I talked to lots of people and sent seven Letters to the Editor and three press releases. It felt like the old days.

On the big day, I picked up Les. He lives in the village and delivered fuel to Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. We had sought "permission" from the Veterans Breakfast here at the White Heart Pub, built in 1988. They were 100% behind the idea, and three vets joined Les and me

We started the day leafleting at the local food store. We had a protest sign and wished every woman a happy International Women's Day. We ended the demo at the Village War memorial for one hour and then went to the pub—lots of waves, thumbs up, and horn beeping. Two local papers have printed the Letter to the Editor, and the village is still talking about the demo.

Minster Lovell is a Chartist village, one of three in England. The Chartist movement sought to extend the vote to the common man, not women, at the time. You had to own land to vote, so a rich lord, Feargus O'Conner, bought 400 acres in 1847, had a raffle, and gave away 57 small farmsteads. Parliament refused to okay the deeds, so it went "bust."

The old part of the village, located by the Windrush River, dates back to the 10th century. The barn on Manor Farm is still in use and was listed on the tax roll in 1086.

This is only the beginning, and the Milwaukee VA had about 500 people at the hospital on March 7th. Veterans, patients, staff, our Congresswoman, and the Milwaukee Labor Council participated. We must keep the pressure on, whether through letters, phone calls, or demonstrations. VVAW has extensive experience, and we are never too old to fight back.

Semper Fidelis.

John Lindquist is a long-time VVAW member from Milwaukee, now living in England.

John Lindquist, Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire, England. March 8, 2025.