From The Living Archives Of Boston Veterans For Peace-They Ain't Your Grandfather's Veterans-By Site Manager Greg Green-The Life And Death Fight Against The Further Privatization Of The Veterans Administration Healthcare System

From The Living Archives Of Boston Veterans For Peace-They Ain't Your Grandfather's Veterans-By Site Manager Greg Green-The Life And Death Fight Against The Further Privatization Of The Veterans Administration Healthcare System      

     

[Ralph Morris who has lived in Troy, New York most of his life, been raised there and raised his own family there, went to war, the bloody, horrendous Vietnam War which he has made plain many times he will never live down, never get over what he did, what he saw others do, and most importantly for the long haul, what his evil government did with no remorse to people in that benighted country with whom he had no quarrel never was much for organizations, joining organizations when he was young until he came upon a group formed in the fire of the Vietnam War protests -Vietnam Veteran Against the War (VVAW) which he joined after watching a contingent of them pass by in silent march protesting the war in downtown Albany one fall afternoon. Somebody in that contingent with a microphone called out to any veterans observing the march who had had enough of war, had felt like that did to “fall in” (an old army term well if bitterly remembered). He did and has never looked back although for the past many years his affiliation has been with a subsequent anti-war veterans’ group Veterans for Peace.  

Sam Eaton, who has lived in Carver, Massachusetts, most of his life, been raised there and raised his own family there, and did not go to war. Did not go for the simple reason that due to a severe childhood accident which left him limping severely thereafter he was declared no fit for military duty, 4-F the term the local draft board used. He too had not been much for organizations, joining organizations when he was young. That is until his best friend from high school, Jeff Mullins, died in hell-hole Vietnam and before he had died asked Sam that if anything happened to him to let the world that he had done things, had seen others do things, and most importantly for the long haul, what his evil government did with no remorse to people in that benighted country with whom he had no quarrel. As part of honoring Jeff’s request after Sam found out about his death he was like a whirling dervish joining one anti-war action after another, joining one ad hoc group, each more radical than the previous one as the war ground away, ground all rational approach vapid, let nothing left but to go left, until the fateful day when he met Ralph down in Washington, D.C.

That was when both in their respective collectives, Ralph in VVAW and Sam in Cambridge Red Front, were collectively attempting one last desperate effort to end the war by closing down the government if it would not shut down the war. All they got for their efforts were tear gas, police batons, arrest bracelets and a trip to the bastinado which was the floor of Robert F. Kennedy stadium which is where they would meet after Sam noticed Ralph’s VVAW pin and told him about Jeff and his request. That experience would form a lasting friendship including several years ago Sam joining Ralph’s Veterans for Peace as a supporter, an active supporter still trying to honor his long- gone friend’s request and memory.

No one least of all either of them would claim they were organizing geniuses, far from it but over the years they participated, maybe even helped organize many anti-war events. One day their friend, Josh Breslin, who writes a by-line at this publication, and who is also a veteran asked them to send some of events they had participated in here to form a sort of living archives of the few remaining activist groupings in this country, in America who are still waging the struggle for peace.

Periodically, since we are something of a clearing house and historic memory for leftist activities, we will put their archival experiences into our archives. As mentioned above Sam and Ralph “met” each other down in Washington, D.C. during the May Day anti-war demonstrations of 1971 when out of desperation clots of anti-war radicals, veterans and civilians alike, tried unsuccessfully to shut down the government if it would not shut down the war. They “met,” their in forever quotation marks not mine, on the floor of Robert F. Kennedy football stadium after they had been arrested along with members of their respective collectives, Ralph’s VVAW and Sam’s Red Front Brigade after getting nothing but tear gas, police batons and a ride in the paddy wagon for their efforts. What they were doing, what for each of the them, according to Josh Breslin who met them shortly after they got “sprung,” also then a member of VVAW and also arrested but had been held in a D.C. city jail, were their first acts of civil disobedience. The first of a long time of such actions which is the lead in to the archival material presented in this piece.

Josh, who introduced the pair to me several years ago when I first came on board to manage the day to day operations of this publication after Allan Jackson, aging and ready to retire, brought me on board for that purpose so he could work on where the publication was heading. He mentioned the Washington action as their calling card although then, in 1971, I was about a decade too young to have realized what they were doing and how important it was for their future political trajectories, their political commitments to “fight the monster,” their term, on the questions of war and peace and other social issues. Not have realized, not having done any such actions how important civil disobedience, or the threat of such actions was, is to their political perspectives.

By the way, as Josh was at pains under pressure from Ralph and Sam, to report to me that May Day action was not the first attempt by either man to “get arrested,” to “put their bodies on the line” as Sam articulated it to me one night when we were putting this piece together. May Day was just the first time when the cops, National Guard, Regular Army was willing, with a vengeance, to take them up on the offer. Both men had tried repeatedly to get arrested “sitting down” at their respective local draft boards in Carver and Troy in order to warn off young men on signing up for the draft. Maybe it was the nature of the times but the local police would not arrest them.]

For many years Ralph Morris, one of the two main character in the introduction above and activist in the materials below, kept the silence of the grave about his “shakes,” about his midnight nightmares and not even wife of many years, Lana, knew the cause of his discomforts. Ralph had never sought treatment for his troubles until he started hearing about a rash, maybe an epidemic, of cases of Iraq war veterans (Iraq II, the 2003 war we are still living with) going to Veterans administration hospitals around the country seeking help for conditions which seemed very similar to his. Of course, we now know that this condition has a name, or an evolution of names from “shell shock” to “battle fatigue” to the current medical definition-post-traumatic stress disease (PTSD, that last word being the operative one). When Ralph sought help, help through the VA after checking with some fellow veterans in VFP who were being treated and receiving compensation for that same condition also being very quiet about the matter, he finally was able to figure out that what he had done in Vietnam, his war, had seen others do and as he always has said what his government had done to poor people he had no quarrel with had been the cause of his maladies.        

Part of the reason that Ralph had not taken advantage of the VA services was that as a small and prosperous business owner in Troy, his father’s hi-tech electrical business which he took over when his father retired he did not believe that he was entitled to the services under the VA means tests. When he did find he was eligible he took full advantage of what he was entitled to, including some small compensation for his PTSD. The important thing to Ralph was that the services provided were helpful, the interaction with the staff from in-take person to various doctors consulted in the case, was positive. A couple of years ago when the VA started getting flack, started getting a lot of negative attention by media people looking for awards to move their food chain and more importantly major medical providers interested in getting a chuck of that very lucrative market he, like many veterans who he might not politically agree with on other matters like support of wars and war budgets, was ready to take some actions. Actions against the further erosion of VA services by the continual privatization of the system.     

As part of that effect, he along with Sam who although not a veteran was concerned about the services loss or scaled back which were helping to keep veterans that he knew, worked with, afloat. Thus the campaign to publicly support the services and stop the privatizations which will ruin what is now the best healthcare system after Medicare in the country. They Ralph and Sam and their comrades started their campaign by standing outside various VA sites and banners at the ready make their case-and incidentally show support to the embattled employees and appreciate veteran patients.