At the time did you clearly understand the Vietnam conflict? How did the media portray the issue?
I feel I had a fairly clear understanding of the issues. I'm 54 years old now and I'm remembering back almost 35 years, from when I was 19 to 21, but I'll try my best to be as accurate and nonrevisionist as possible with my answers.
At first there was little media coverage, but as the war escalated in 1967 and peaked in 1968-1969, the coverage increased dramatically. The main source of info to me was newsmagazines like "Newsweek" and "Time". My memories are that these mags gave a fairly objective overview of the war.
What was your reaction to the draft and the possibility of being drafted? Where were you? How did you view your future?
I was living in Miami, Florida. I was attending community college for 2½ years, and then a semester at The University of Miami.
Much of the time I was scared sh**less. I don't remember thinking much more than a week or so ahead. The prospect of becoming forcibly involved in the murder and mayhem precluded long range planning.
How did you avoid being drafted?
In June of 1969 I received 3 draft notices in a week, & it was time to decide. Until then I had managed to appeal numerous draft notices for several years thru my student deferment. My situation is somewhat unique (as was everyone else's, I guess) in that I'm a Canadian national by birth. I was still eligible for the draft as a "resident alien".
When I received the 3 draft notices in a week, and the draft board (in Atlanta, Georgia, where I had lived just prior to moving to Miami) took away my student deferment, my parents suggested I go to live in England with my cousin.
Was there an incident or factor that cemented your objection to the war?
The image that stays in my mind to this day is that of the Buddhist monks who were committing suicide by setting themselves on fire to protest their country's invasion. In a corner of my mind there is always a saffron-robed monk making the strongest protest statement possible - his self immolation. That a human being could believe so strongly in his cause, and choose to take his own life as the ultimate form of passive resistance, was a deciding factor.
Did your feelings (or the feelings of those around you) change as the Vietnam War progressed?
I lived on Key Biscayne, an idyllic suburban island community about five miles off the coast of Miami. So far as I know, I was the first KB objector to the war. At about the age of 19 I actively campaigned for Eugene McCarthy for president, and I don't believe he received one vote in the Key Biscayne riding.
I remember attending a peace demonstration on Flagler Street (Miami's main drag) across from the downtown library (1968?). There were about 10 or 15 of us at this first demo, and all of us were teens or early 20s at the oldest. Miami was, and is, an exceptionally reactionary city, and the anti-war movement, like many other cultural events of the time, was slow in arriving and being accepted in Miami.
What was your stance on war before you were threatened with being drafted?
When I graduated from high school in 1966, I was a naive 17-year-old. No awareness that I can recall of the war in Vietnam, except for a terrible song played on top 40 radio, "The Ballad of the Green Berets". I registered with the draft board in Atlanta a month after graduation on my 18th birthday, and then we moved to Miami. Quite soon after we moved I remember having to apply for my student deferment, and that's when I became aware of the war.
Did you feel unpatriotic for not supporting the war? How did the war affect your view of the U.S. Government?
I was a Canadian by birth, altho I had lived in the US from second grade, age 7. At first I had somewhat bought into all the usual American patriotism (pledging allegiance every day for 11 years has some effect on you).How did the war affect your view of the U.S. Government? When I realized what was going on I was appalled.
What first made you consider leaving the United States?
The more I studied the war thu books and the media, contacted anti-war groups like The Friends Service Committee & read "underground" newspapers like "The Village Voice" in the college library, the more I knew I was not going to fight this war, whatever the cost.
Were you involved in any war protests or protest groups?
Yes, I was one of the first anti-war protesters in Miami. I also started publishing my own version of an underground newspaper, a mimeographed couple of pages creatively called "Papers". I distributed "Papers" at my community college, and perhaps more importantly, at local high schools. I was also one of the leaders at community college who formed an anti-war activist group called the Student Action Committee.
Do you believe that your life would have been different had the draft not happened?
Of course! Who knows what would have happened ... career choices - I remember thinking on one evening walk that I would become a teacher after I graduated from college/university... job opportunities...
Do you regret any of the choices you made during the Vietnam War period?
No. It's the first or second thing in my life I'm most proud of! I learned most people are sheep - that they don't think for themselves, and that when the chips are down, you really can't depend on many people in life, including your own family.
That we each have to make choices, regardless of what everyone else is doing. It gave me an understanding of how the German people supported Hitler during WW2, altho finally enough of the american public awoke sufficiently to protest and stop the war.
(http://www.eelpie.org/cricket/vietnam.htm)
I feel I had a fairly clear understanding of the issues. I'm 54 years old now and I'm remembering back almost 35 years, from when I was 19 to 21, but I'll try my best to be as accurate and nonrevisionist as possible with my answers.
At first there was little media coverage, but as the war escalated in 1967 and peaked in 1968-1969, the coverage increased dramatically. The main source of info to me was newsmagazines like "Newsweek" and "Time". My memories are that these mags gave a fairly objective overview of the war.
What was your reaction to the draft and the possibility of being drafted? Where were you? How did you view your future?
I was living in Miami, Florida. I was attending community college for 2½ years, and then a semester at The University of Miami.
Much of the time I was scared sh**less. I don't remember thinking much more than a week or so ahead. The prospect of becoming forcibly involved in the murder and mayhem precluded long range planning.
How did you avoid being drafted?
In June of 1969 I received 3 draft notices in a week, & it was time to decide. Until then I had managed to appeal numerous draft notices for several years thru my student deferment. My situation is somewhat unique (as was everyone else's, I guess) in that I'm a Canadian national by birth. I was still eligible for the draft as a "resident alien".
When I received the 3 draft notices in a week, and the draft board (in Atlanta, Georgia, where I had lived just prior to moving to Miami) took away my student deferment, my parents suggested I go to live in England with my cousin.
Was there an incident or factor that cemented your objection to the war?
The image that stays in my mind to this day is that of the Buddhist monks who were committing suicide by setting themselves on fire to protest their country's invasion. In a corner of my mind there is always a saffron-robed monk making the strongest protest statement possible - his self immolation. That a human being could believe so strongly in his cause, and choose to take his own life as the ultimate form of passive resistance, was a deciding factor.
Did your feelings (or the feelings of those around you) change as the Vietnam War progressed?
I lived on Key Biscayne, an idyllic suburban island community about five miles off the coast of Miami. So far as I know, I was the first KB objector to the war. At about the age of 19 I actively campaigned for Eugene McCarthy for president, and I don't believe he received one vote in the Key Biscayne riding.
I remember attending a peace demonstration on Flagler Street (Miami's main drag) across from the downtown library (1968?). There were about 10 or 15 of us at this first demo, and all of us were teens or early 20s at the oldest. Miami was, and is, an exceptionally reactionary city, and the anti-war movement, like many other cultural events of the time, was slow in arriving and being accepted in Miami.
What was your stance on war before you were threatened with being drafted?
When I graduated from high school in 1966, I was a naive 17-year-old. No awareness that I can recall of the war in Vietnam, except for a terrible song played on top 40 radio, "The Ballad of the Green Berets". I registered with the draft board in Atlanta a month after graduation on my 18th birthday, and then we moved to Miami. Quite soon after we moved I remember having to apply for my student deferment, and that's when I became aware of the war.
Did you feel unpatriotic for not supporting the war? How did the war affect your view of the U.S. Government?
I was a Canadian by birth, altho I had lived in the US from second grade, age 7. At first I had somewhat bought into all the usual American patriotism (pledging allegiance every day for 11 years has some effect on you).How did the war affect your view of the U.S. Government? When I realized what was going on I was appalled.
What first made you consider leaving the United States?
The more I studied the war thu books and the media, contacted anti-war groups like The Friends Service Committee & read "underground" newspapers like "The Village Voice" in the college library, the more I knew I was not going to fight this war, whatever the cost.
Were you involved in any war protests or protest groups?
Yes, I was one of the first anti-war protesters in Miami. I also started publishing my own version of an underground newspaper, a mimeographed couple of pages creatively called "Papers". I distributed "Papers" at my community college, and perhaps more importantly, at local high schools. I was also one of the leaders at community college who formed an anti-war activist group called the Student Action Committee.
Do you believe that your life would have been different had the draft not happened?
Of course! Who knows what would have happened ... career choices - I remember thinking on one evening walk that I would become a teacher after I graduated from college/university... job opportunities...
Do you regret any of the choices you made during the Vietnam War period?
No. It's the first or second thing in my life I'm most proud of! I learned most people are sheep - that they don't think for themselves, and that when the chips are down, you really can't depend on many people in life, including your own family.
That we each have to make choices, regardless of what everyone else is doing. It gave me an understanding of how the German people supported Hitler during WW2, altho finally enough of the american public awoke sufficiently to protest and stop the war.
(http://www.eelpie.org/cricket/vietnam.htm)
by Nicole Bruhn