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Remembering Jack Elder

By Tom Wetzler

I first met Jack in 1979 at a small meeting in San Antonio of people concerned about issues in Central America. We soon realized that we were Vietnam Veterans. I had been involved with VVAW since 1970, but had never met Jack before. Jack was knowledgeable, well-spoken, and willing to pitch in with the grunt work of meetings and mail-outs. It seemed he was too good to be true. I was suspicious. In the next few weeks, I learned he had been in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica before being drafted and sent to Vietnam. Originally from CT, he first came to Texas for Peace Corps training in 1965 after getting a B.S. in Biology from Catholic University in Washington, DC (Jack later told me he realized that if the 16mm films about the "benefits of Capitalism" did not work in the Peace Corps, there was the M16 of the Army in Vietnam).

In Vietnam, he was assigned to a convalescence unit as a lab tech in Cam Ranh Bay. After returning from Vietnam and out of the Army, Jack finished an M.A. in education with a concentration in Spanish from what is now Texas State University. When we met, Jack was working as a math teacher at a middle school. He was married with three small sons (another son and a daughter came later). His wife, Diane, was fully supportive of not repeating Vietnam in Central America. Their life values of simple living and conscious non-consumerism, "Live simply so others may simply live," showed they were the "Real Deal."

Jack's experience in Central America and his fluency in Spanish gave him empathy for the plight of refugees from right-wing dictatorships in Central America. He worked for several months at Casa Oscar Romero, a refugee shelter sponsored by the Catholic Church, in 1983. During that time, Jack was arrested twice and convicted once of transporting refugees to the bus station.

While awaiting trial, Jack often spoke publicly about US policy in Central America and the creation of refugees from that policy. It is estimated that between 1981 and 1990, almost one million fled from El Salvador and Guatemala, many seeking Asylum in the US. Jacks' actions morphed with the grassroots faith-based Sanctuary Movement.

In 1985, Jack was convicted of charges related to transporting immigrants and was sentenced to two years' probation with the condition that he not publicly speak about immigration issues. Jack refused the sentence as "unacceptable" and continued to speak. A week later, he was given another sentence: 150 days in a Halfway House in his hometown of San Antonio. When released, Jack continued as a VVAW member, speaking at rallies and demonstrations, in classrooms, and participating in lectures at universities.

Jack had participated in going to the office of our Congressional Reps., both in San Antonio and with VVAW in Washington, DC, during Dewey Canyon IV in 1982, before going to Casa Oscar Romero. He returned to teaching, but after 9/11, his conviction became a hindrance to his work in education.

Jack then worked in other fields, including construction, tree trimming, and safety engineering. He volunteered at a homeless shelter, Catholic Worker House, and did daily food deliveries for Meals on Wheels.

Jack continued to do this work after his diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease in 2011, due to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. He managed his illness well as it progressed, staying involved and active in both National and community events. But progress it did, and in true Jack fashion, as he was becoming less able to function, he decided once again to take control of his life on his own terms.

A couple of weeks after helping me with reading the Declaration of Independence in the community park, on the Fourth of July, Jack decided to stop eating and drinking and let nature take its course. He was surrounded by his family when he passed; it was his instruction to be cremated in his VVAW t-shirt. "America doesn't need to be a great nation, it needs to be a good Nation."

Jack was a true friend and comrade, always having my back.

Tom Wetzler is originally from NYC, was a medic with an infantry company D 1/18, 1st Inf. Div. 69-70 and has been involved with VVAW since learning about Operation RAW in 1970 while volunteering with a GI newspaper "Your Military Left", in San Antonio, TX. He worked in nursing, teaching, and various other jobs, and is now retired in San Antonio.

Jack Elder and Tom Wetzler, MLK Day, 2017.

From an article in the Spring 1985 issue of The Veteran.

Jack Elder (in shades) with VVAW in Arlington National Cemetery, Dewey Canyon IV, May 1982.