Occupied the Statue of Liberty that December. As reported byDemocracy Now, “Over the weekend, war veterans spoke of free-fire zones, the shootings and beatings of innocent civilians, racism at the highest levels of the military, sexual harassment and assault within the military, and the torturing of prisoners.”. But also take time to watch the “Winter Soldier Investigations” from 1971 and 2008 to know the real winter soldiers. The PayUp campaign’s battle against wage theft has clawed back $22 billion from apparel companies during the pandemic, and they’re just getting started. You can’t republish any other images without specific permission. Despite being largely ignored, the powerful testimony by vets at Winter Soldier alerted the American public that the whole war in Vietnam was an atrocity. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Portland” to “Portland, Ore.” or “here.”). That week, soldiers become veteran-activists. For three days in 1971, former US soldiers who were in Vietnam testify in Detroit about their war experiences. One hundred and nine veterans and sixteen civilians including contractors, medical personnel and academics testified about war crimes they had committed or witnessed. And Howard Levy, army captain and doctor who in 1967 refused to train medics going to Vietnam. But their patriotic fervor was shaken by the brutal realities of this war. Today’s winter soldiers are members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (in its different incarnations), Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace. A screenshot from the 1972 documentary “Winter Soldier. Yesterday. When asked why they joined the military or went to Vietnam, VVAW members gave a near unanimous response—a sense of duty, … clock. There was a book, I think ” The New Soldier” from 1971. I f you look up the director’s credit for the 1972 Vietnam War documentary Winter Soldier, you won’t exactly learn much.The film is credited to the ‘Winterfilm Collective’, an enigmatic group of student filmmakers and anti-war activists who cannily chose to remain under the umbrella of that title than to identify themselves individually. Neither were the stars of Winter Soldier: that honor goes to the more than 300 veterans who had crowded into the Howard Johnson hotel to bear witness to the fact that the Vietnam War was one long war crime. Peace and justice organizations, as well as universities, publish their own independent content on Waging Nonviolence. Winter Soldier Investigation: Testimony given in Detroit, Michigan, on January 31, 1971, February 1 and 2, 1971: Sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc. Table of Contents. There is pain and suffering in that name. “These were the policies dreamt up at Harvard and converted into military strategies in Washington,” added Ensign, who would go on to represent many dissident military personnel and founded CitizenSoldier.org. There was Dewy Canyon III in April 1971 in Washington, where they returned medals among other things. With Rusty Sachs, Joe Bangert, Scott Shimabukuro, Kenneth Campbell. Waging Nonviolence content falls under a. How anti-Vietnam War protests thwarted Nixon’s plans and saved lives, I Ain’t Marching Anymore: Dissenters, Deserters and Objectors to America’s Wars, https://kroc.nd.edu/news-events/events/2021/03/12/winter-soldiers-against-war-and-racial-injustice-vietnam-iraq-and-today/. For example, at the top of a republished article, a sentence like this should be included: This article was originally published on, If you’re republishing online, you have to link to us and to include all of the links from our story, as well as the code for our, You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. They are patriots who are willing to hold themselves accountable, tell their nation when it is wrong and struggle with it to make it right. And Veterans For Peace is planning to hold “Winter Soldier 2021” in March, featuring vets from both of the prior events and a final panel of both current servicemembers and law-enforcement officers now trying to reimagine what public safety means. They are service members and veterans who come back and risk everything to tell the ground truth about the horrors of war and advocate for a new direction. I certainly have one book I got at a clearance in 1980, and I think that’s it. Day after day, these very young men told horror stories of what had become normal in Vietnam. Every war ends for Peace..Prudence Wisdom dialogues negotiations keys for sustainable peace.. There’s a webinar March 12 focused on this – https://kroc.nd.edu/news-events/events/2021/03/12/winter-soldiers-against-war-and-racial-injustice-vietnam-iraq-and-today/. Albert Bigelow served in WWII and then later sailed The Golden Rule into a nuclear test zone (or tried), and was one of the original freedom riders in May 1961. conducted 75 interviews with those involved, to varying degrees, with the substantial protest against American involvement in Vietnam. For most of us, this weekend’s release of the latest superhero film, “Captain America: Winter Soldier” will be simply another night of fun entertainment at the theater. Though the event was attended by press and television news crews, almost nothing was reported to the American public. Need for Investigation. Don’t forget the Fort Hood Three, who early on refused to go to Vietnam. So you see, there are real winter soldiers. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed. She insisted that rather than New York or Washington, their national media event should be held in Detroit, the heart of working-class America. The text accompanying it read, “In the last 10 years, over 335,000 of our buddies have been killed or wounded in Vietnam. There is a long legacy behind the name Winter Soldier that is much deeper in meaning. Stop the Expansion of Nellis Air Force Base! One of the soldiers who was part of VVAW's Winter Soldier project said in 2004 that he was personally coached by Kerry to say that he witnessed atrocities in Vietnam. This webinar commemorates the Winter Soldier Investigation organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War 50 years ago, as well as similar hearings planned by Iraq Veterans Against the War 37 years later. If My Lai had once thrown the moon landing off some newspaper front pages, NASA struck back during Winter Soldier: The news cycle featured Apollo 14’s Alan Shepherd playing golf on the moon. Winter Soldiers recovers this moving chapter in the history of the Vietnam War era. Suspend the Annual US-South Korea War Drills. Vietnam Veterans Against the War. This webinar commemorates the Winter Soldier Investigation organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War 50 years ago, as well as similar hearings planned by Iraq Veterans Against the War 37 years later. We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veteran Dissent During the Vietnam Era (Perspectives in the Sixties) (Perspectives on the Sixties series) None Edition by Richard Moser (Author) 3.9 out of 5 stars 3 ratings Day after day, these very young men told horror stories of what had become normal in Vietnam. Bringing together the voices of more than thirty former and current members of the VVAW, oral historian Richard Stacewicz offers an eloquent account of the impact of the war on the lives of individuals and the nation. Despite being largely ignored, the powerful testimony by vets at Winter Soldier alerted the American public that the whole war in Vietnam was an atrocity. Co-sponsored by the Keough School of Global Affairs, Veterans For Peace, and the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee. Nonetheless, like the 1971 Detroit event for which it was named, Winter Soldier was mostly ignored by both the mainstream media and the government — as was the smaller “Winter Soldier on the Hill,” when veterans testified before Congress six weeks later. With another group of activist veterans now in the headlines — those involved in the racist Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 — it’s more important than ever to remember and acknowledge the veterans who peacefully organized to tell truths only they knew. REGISTER HERE This led to commanders simply killing captives, rather than making them prisoners with rights under the Geneva Conventions. Become a sustaining member today and receive a gift of your choice. The program will feature military veterans of the Vietnam War and post-9/11 eras and clips from documentary films documenting Vietnam and post-9/11 winter soldier hearings. Growing up in the shadows of World War II, these young men volunteered or were drafted to serve as "citizen soldiers". Required fields are marked *. All the dead and wonder totally unnecessary! Winter Soldier reminds us that Vietnam was a running atrocity from start to finish. Their example inspired post 9/11 veterans to hold a four-day event in Silver Spring, Maryland in 2008 called Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan. “[Hearing such horrors described] was jarring,” John Kerry told the New York Times 35 years later. Organizers agreed that it was time for a bigger event, to ensure that Congress and the media received this information. VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by talking about the horrors of war and exposing the connections between military official policies and war crimes in Vietnam. It should be seen as one of the proudest moments of their lives. And what is the purpose of the massive investment in the military – industrial – complex? But CBS News refused to use the hours of film they had shot, and the “newspapers of record” (the New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune) ran scant items compared to their ample My Lai coverage. And more are being killed and wounded every day. As Spike Lee releases new war drama Da 5 Bloods, we look back at the ways cinema has represented the 20-year conflict . The program will feature military veterans of the Vietnam War and post-9/11 eras and clips from documentary films documenting Vietnam and post-9/11 winter soldier hearings. The Detroit papers ran features every day, which were carefully copied and filed by the FBI. In the fall of 1981, Jim Bergeron out of Vermont marched in a disarmament rally in Europe while in uniform. The Pentagon shared we should not do this war due to a lack of experience in jungle warfare but Politicians and corporate America said yes. But not first-hand.” To these veterans, giving testimony before the media was the only way to alert the American public that the whole war was an atrocity. Winter Soldier vividly shows that this was true of the Vietnam War, only more so. Like the real Winter Soldiers of Vietnam, Bucky owns his past, but knows it doesn’t define him. You can now watch footage from that week in Detroit on YouTube: The footage shows a characteristic mix of youth, openness, high spirits and that intense quiet that comes from having seen the indescribable. Bill Perry urged the room to explore “what causes people to act this way, and what we can do to combat [that].” The testimony horrified even some of the event’s organizers. Guenter Lewy on the Winter Soldier Investigation, America in Vietnam From pages 316-317 "Another organization active in airing charges of American atrocities in Vietnam was the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), which was founded in 1967; by 1970 it was said to have 600 members. “We’d all heard the stories — just scuttlebutt. To donate by check, cryptocurrency or other method, see our Ways to Give page. When you go see “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” have fun in the make believe world of Hollywood superheroes and sheroes. VFP is a 501(c)3 organization.All contributions are tax deductible. But the story does not end there. With the upcoming trial of Lt. William Calley, who had ordered the killing of hundreds of civilians at “Pinkville” in My Lai province, the new but growing Vietnam Veterans Against the War, or VVAW, had collected dozens of testimonies — evidence that My Lai was anything but uncommon. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Guernica the Philadelphia Inquirer. They described atrocities, which attorney Tod Ensign linked to specific military policies: “search and destroy,” “free-fire zones,” “take no prisoners.” These policies created an overall dark strategy, in which “search and destroy” missions were conducted without taking Vietcong prisoners, “disposing” of the enemy in other ways, and establishing “free-fire zones” such as “Pinkville.”, The depositions outlined the results of these three core policies. They talked about the war crimes they witnessed and participated in. Your email address will not be published. The Detroit event, held from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 1971, felt needed after the New Year, as the military commenced Operation Dewey Canyon, an incursion into Laos and Cambodia. Soldiers described “search and destroy” missions with no internal prisoner-of-war facilities. Jane Fonda had been supporting GI activists for years and was working with Hollywood peers on a traveling show called “F.T.A.,” a set of black-comedy skits starring Donald Sutherland and Holly Near — with whom she’d tour U.S. military bases around the world — that used some of those testimonies. Humanitarian work in one of the world’s most militarized zones has only gotten more difficult as India resorts to new levels of intimidation and hostility. You can republish images only if they are clearly cited as creative commons (Wikimedia, Flickr, etc.) We don’t think it’s worth it.”. Winter Soldiers asks why some of the Americans who served in Vietnam returned home to oppose the war. In February 1971, a decorated battalion commander in Vietnam had just filed charges that some troops in his brigade had engaged in “transmission of electrical shock by means of a field telephone [and used on a Vietnamese girl] a water rag treatment which impaired breathing, hitting with sticks and boards, and beating of detainees with fists.”, A few months earlier, some VVAW members had participated in a Washington, D.C. event they called a Citizens Commission of Inquiry. They are men and women who love their country, but are not willing to love blindly. Today’s winter soldiers are members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (in its different incarnations), Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace. In Yesterday’s Lies: Steve Pitkin and the Winter Soldiers, Scott Swett tells the story of a former VVAW member and participant in the Winter Soldier Investigation who has now filed an affidavit stating that John Kerry and others pressured him to give false testimony about American atrocities in Vietnam. Louis MO 63118, vfp@veteransforpeace.org or feedback@veteransforpeace.org(314) 725-6005 (office)(314) 227-1981 (fax). “We call this investigation the 'Winter Soldier Investigation.' Historian Guenter Lewy's ‘American in Vietnam' (1980) claimed that a Naval Investigative Services (NIS) report showed that many of those who testified at Winter Soldier … In particular, why are there nukes, and why was $1 trillion recently allocated to their upgrading??? © 2018 Waging Nonviolence. PURPOSE: To prove that US military operations in Vietnam were war crimes and a matter of policy coming down from the highest levels of the government. First released in 1972, re-released by Milestone Films, 2005. They were all killed by Helmut Zemo. However after a screening and panel at the Walter Reade Theatre/Film Society of Lincoln Center in the early 2000s – after the start of the war with Iraq, we acquired the film for Sundance Channel and the film finally broadcast on US television. by Richard Moser. “These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”. “When the vets heard Westmoreland say that My Lai was just a couple of bad apples, they couldn’t believe it.”. Digressions, personal attacks, hateful language and unsubstantiated claims will be removed — as will comments tied to false email addresses, impersonations and copyright-protected material. We prefer with a note at the top of the article that says it originally appeared on Waging Nonviolence with a link back to the original page where it appeared. (Winterfilm Collective). January 31 – February 2, 1971, Vietnam Veterans Against the War held theWinter Soldier Investigationswhere returning soldiers testified to war crimes and atrocities by the U.S. Armed Forces and their allies in Vietnam. Winter Soldier was supposed to air on PBS in 1972 but I am not sure it ever did. Hosted by Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Veterans For Peace and 2 others. At that event, the young veteran the FBI called “John Carry” gave a speech that prefigured the testimony he would eventually give to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “We are here to say that it is not patriotism to ask Americans to die for a mistake and that it is not patriotic to allow a president to talk about not being the first president to lose a war and using us as pawns in that game.” Kerry has long downplayed his role in VVAW, which has been used by his political enemies to somehow paint him as unpatriotic. Kerry had been active in VVAW for months and had come to the attention of the FBI at a September VVAW event at Valley Forge. The military cult in the U.S. continues under the vague, undefined notion of “American Interests” , which is enough to block relevant questions about whose interests are served? Faced a court martial, when I met him the next spring he said he’d been given a discharge “for the good of the service”. What should have been an end to the Guantánamo saga in 2012, was only the beginning of more grueling work for this anti-torture coalition. “Winter Soldiers is an immensely valuable contribution to the history of the Vietnam War. It’s more important than ever to remember and acknowledge the veterans who peacefully organized to tell truths only they knew. That event included “Rules of Engagement” panels about civilians in the crossfire and separate panels on sexism, racism and post-traumatic stress disorder. The combined energy of _two_ veterans orgs, each with their own Winter Soldier, can speak powerfully about how to heal and empower each other to create real change. "Kerry participated in Winter Soldier in the sense that for the Vietnam veterans that came there, there were moderators, and there were eyewitnesses. The public testimonies occurred 31 January to 2 February 1971. Winter Soldier Investigation (1971) Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) organized the Winter Soldier Investigation over the course of 1970, in the same vein as the Citizens Commision of Inquiry and the Russell Tribunal before it. There is sacrifice, honor and healing behind those words. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuLsYPgAcKmljni829sdjDqgAgm6vKZMb, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucY7JOfg6G4, http://www.workinglife.org/2014/03/31/thewintersoldier/, http://www.geekosystem.com/winter-soldier-history/, Veterans For Peace3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219St. 232 pages, 16 illustrations, 6 x 9 Acting as older statesmen of sorts were Lt. John Kerry and World War II bombardier Howard Zinn, each taking notes with a lawyer’s intensity. CONFIRMED PRESENTERS INCLUDE: Thomas Baker, Ph.D. Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis They are service members, veterans and non-veterans alike who will not stand idly by and allow innocent people to … Over two hundred veterans and active duty service members as well as civilian Iraqis and Afghans followed in the footsteps of the 1971 hearings to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. To do so, email. 50 years ago, Winter Soldier exposed the Vietnam War as one long war crime. And Kerry was a moderator or questioner. The March 12 event is going to be awesome. Online Event. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Detroit, Michigan – Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 1971. Remarks by the Hon. In February, nearly 1,000 people crowded into rooms at a Howard Johnson, 300 or so giving testimony over the event’s three days. Paine is best known for his extremely popular and successful pamphlet Common Sense, which argued for Independence from England. Friday, March 12, 2021 at 4:00 PM EST. Also, there is a good reason not to use that graphic. The “winter soldier” connotes their newfound service to country; it is a dedication to realizing fundamental social change. GI and Veteran Dissent During the Vietnam Era. Still, such gatherings empowered vets to take future actions. They are service members, veterans and non-veterans alike who will not stand idly by and allow innocent people to be killed in their names. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get the latest in people-powered news and analysis. To understand the real meaning of the name Winter Soldier we begin in 1776 with The American Crisis, a collection of articles written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. Waging Nonviolence depends on your support. Comment document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a39bc53e2d2d644e982fa92982ef0203" );document.getElementById("ba5d9027ab").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Please keep comments constructive and relevant to the post. They are citizens of the world who know that life and the health of the planet is more important than profit, and that war is obsolete and will study it no more. It brings to life, through the words of the veterans themselves, the journey each individual made, through the crucible of combat, from warrior to protester.”—Howard Zinn And why exactly have 20 million died as a result of American military action since WWII? We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could hold our silence; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of what threatens this country, the fact that the crimes threaten it, not reds, and not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out.”. Winter Soldier investigation into war crimes during the Vietnam War. Scott Camil, whose cherubic face seemed embraced by his short beard, spoke softly as he described abuse of Vietnamese civilians. Visit their individual pages to see more. Lots of photos. The term 'Winter Soldier' is a play on words of Thomas Paine in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriot and summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough. VVAW National Office 1970 – 1972. Fifty years ago this week, John Kerry and Jane Fonda were both in Detroit, for the groundbreaking Winter Soldier Investigation. To counter the idea that they were lying, soldiers showed slides and lifted their discharge papers to cameras. Joe Urgo redvet55@hotmail.com wars.. expression of Powerfulness.hegemony greed..immaturity. The Winter Soldier investigation, ... Just days before Kerry's testimony, it was disclosed that Al Hubbard, another leader of the group, had lied about his military service in Vietnam. (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Waging Nonviolence is a nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible. It would take decades before information about these atrocities was declassified and became the landmark book by Nick Turse, “Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.”. But Winter Soldier means much more than a cool sounding name for a fictional comic book character. Indeed, Richard Stacewicz's Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War provides the most insight into the backgrounds of VVAW members and the day-to-day struggles of members and chapters around the country of any of the books on VVAW, precisely because he gives voice to national leaders and local chapters, founding members and those who became involved … Winter Soldier, a documentary film by Winterfilm. This was a historic moment, when U.S. veterans stood up to hold themselves and the government accountable. ← Former National President of Veterans For Peace Arrested at Beale, Building Peace through Sticks and Balls →, The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY). Nearly 30 speak, describing atrocities personally committed or witnessed, telling of inaccurate body counts, and recounting the process of destroying a village. This Community section offers just a sample of their latest stories. The New Winter Soldiers. Phillip Berrigan served too, and later changed his mind about war. 'Winter Soldier', a Remembrance of Vietnam Atrocities More than 30 years after it was filmed, a documentary that chronicles war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam … As the Nixon administration battled press inquiries about the incursion and the in-progress Calley trial, VVAW dialed up the pressure with a full-page ad in the February 1971 issue of Playboy, picturing a coffin draped in an American flag. You have to credit us. In 1959 I was stationed at CINPACFleet Hawaii receiving and reading Pentagon Top Secret communications. Then, to know where the term Winter Soldier was coined, we must fast forward one hundred ninety-five years to the Viet Nam War era and listen in on John Kerry, testifying as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in front of the same body he would one day join, the U.S. Senate. lack of wisdom..madness Adopting a panel format featuring 109 representatives of the various divisions that comprised the US order of battle in Vietnam, the veterans took their turn at the microphone, answering questions put to them by a fellow-veteran moderator, members of the public and journalists. Please get the word to Chris that there is a significant error in the article above. Nowadays both are making headlines with actions on the climate crisis, but in February 1971, they were organizing with equal passion against a war. From Platoon to Winter Soldier: 10 of the best Vietnam war films. in the caption. The Winter Soldiers were HYDRA's elite group of assassins that were enhanced by a Super Soldier Serum similar to the one that created Captain America and the original Winter Soldier.
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