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Rising From Despair to Triumph

By Ed White (reviewer)

This is a story about one of our own. Greg Payton's life ran the gamut from the anger and bitterness of racism experienced in Vietnam to his peace activism with VVAW and the War Resisters League of the 1980's and beyond. This memoir relates stories of riots in an Army stockade in Vietnam (burning it down), struggles with addiction, PTSD, and recovery with the help of a mentor.

The memoir shines a light on the depth of American racism as it played out during the war in Vietnam. It is yet another story of the impact of racism that has constantly haunted Blacks.

When Payton was 18, he met his father, jazz organist Freddie Roach, for the first time. And then he met his brother, Freddie Roach Jr. It was a life and a relationship he had missed out on. His artistic father introduced him to the life of a civil rights activist, and Greg never forgot the anger it engendered. He carried this deep anger to the fields of Vietnam.

The draft took over Payton's life: In 1967, he went to Vietnam. In boot camp, he learned to shoot weapons, but he did not make any white friends. Greg learned the hypocritical lesson from the chaplain who blesses you before a battle, even though "Thou shalt not kill" is a commandment.

Racism in Vietnam is the real story. At the time, the Civil Rights movement had been gaining momentum, tragically, it was also a time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Riots broke out in various cities in the US. This reaction reached Blacks in Vietnam, where a rage against the system flared. Payton got into fights. He took his anger out against the racist behavior of white enlisted soldiers and officers. He got involved in selling government supplies and drugs. All this led to Brig time.

The Army stockade at the Long Binh Base was vastly different from the Marine Brig in I Corps: the "LBJ" Stockade had two and a half days of riots, during which the Stockade was burned down. The book's vivid photographs were a revelation to me. Like many events, I doubt it made a wide national press review at the time—another matter of concealing the truth about the war.

Payton's extensive descriptions of the rioting are as revealing as they are sobering.

A game changer for racism in the military came when Congressman Augustus Freeman Hawkins investigated the reasons for the riots. He was the first black man elected to Congress from California. After coming back from Vietnam, Congressman Hawkings sponsored many bills to help Black GIs, such as H.R. 1394, the Military Whistleblowers Protection Act, which prohibited retaliatory action against soldiers who made complaints about treatment. Also, the Congressman co-sponsored H.R. 5718, which prevented, among other things, discrimination in admission to service academies based on race.

Another game changer in Payton's life happened when he met Clarence Fitch, who worked for VVAW Films. With the deep bond from Fitch's mentoring, Greg Peyton got out of his life with drugs. Payton began his anti-war work with VVAW and later expanded to international work with the War Resisters League. As they say… the rest is history.

Greg Payton truly was a Peace Warrior. His story needs to be shared with all those who fought in the war but did not understand the racism that was happening in our midst.

The printed book, from an e-book, has some technical issues, but the grayscale illustrations, photography, and map add a new reading experience. This reviewer loves maps.

Ed White is a Marine Vietnam combat officer vet with memberships in VVAW, VFP, and VVA. He has taught courses in the Vietnam war at Triton College in Illinois.

Dave Cline, Greg Payton, and Jan Barry.