From Flag Waver to Flag Burner and Beyond:

A Biographic Sketch of a Soldier who Joined the GI Antiwar Resistance Movement and Never Quit.





  

This document is produced by the Stop The War Brigade. With the launching of our new revamped web site we will be including a section on the history of the STWB. We begin this series with a biographical sketch of Dave Blalock. Both he, along with Darnell Summers, are US army veterans of the Vietnam War. They were among the initial founders of our organization in 1991 and both have remained active through today in 2010.  (Note: Above cartoon from the GI Press comes from the archives of sirnosir.com)



The info here comes from Blalock's yet to be published book titled An X GI Remembers Vietnam: The Hidden Legacy of Soldiers in Revolt. Book 1--The Awakening and drafts from his Book 2 Bringing the War Home that covers the time period from 1970 to 1990. Then, beginning with the 1991 Gulf War thru 2009, much of this info comes from the Stop The War Brigade Action Log and Blalock’s job resume.



(Note: Historically the STWB has been made up of veterans of the U.S., German, British, Norwegian, and Russian militaries along with active-duty US GIs and their families.  Due to intense spying and harassment by US Military Intelligence operatives here in Europe we’ve only listed the names of the active STWB people who have received publicity at a particular event.)



Photo: July 1969 Sp-4 Dave Blalock, Long Thanh, Vietnam (Note the Peace sign hanging around his neck). In 2002 all of his Vietnam photos were destroyed by a flood in Houston, TX—his daughter Kerry managed to save this water-damaged one above.



Dave Blalock was born on January 13, 1950 in Johnstown, PA.

He grew up in this former heartland of America’s steel and coal producing region. From 1955 thru 1957 he attended the Immaculate Conception Catholic Grade School in the Cambria City section of Johnstown which was located not far from his father’s place of employment as a crane operator at Bethlehem Steel’s Rod & Wire Mill. (Note: In November 1955 a nun in Blalock’s school noticed that, according to State regulations, he had started school at a too young of an age—the law required a person to be at least 6 years old before entering the 1st grade. As he was doing well academically in his school work the nuns ignored the law and let him continue.)



In 1958, following his family’s purchase of a house located 10 miles outside of Johnstown near a village called Mine 37, he then attended Saint Andrews Catholic School in Benscreek until 1963 when he graduated from 8th grade. During this time he worked on a job delivering the Johnstown Tribune Democrat newspaper in the neighborhood. He also worked on a job picking strawberries in Ingleside but was fired after the first day because the boss said he was, “eating more then you’re packing.”

Above: Blalock’s 1958 St Andrews school photo.



From 1963 to 1967 Blalock spent his 9th thru 12th grades in the public school system attending Richland Township High School. During this period he worked at various jobs in Geistown from setting pins in the non-automated Galles Bowling Alley to making pizza at Ann’s Pizza Shop. He then worked washing dishes on the night shift at the Tops Diner across from the Silver Drive-in Movies in Richland. Throughout his senior year in high school he worked for Fishers Family Clothing Store in the Bel-Air Plaza where he started as a janitor, worked his way up to the position of salesman and by the time he graduated from high school he was promoted to assistant manager—several months later the store went out of business.   

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Blalock graduated from Richland High School in June 1967.

In photo below from his high school year book Blalock is second from the right.

The Richland H.S. Class of 1967 contained a larger-than-usual number of troublemakers — some of whom were affiliated with a gang known as The Mine 37 Boys:

This group began in 1965 as a basketball team in the school’s Saturday morning winter sports program. There they wore T-shirts emblazoned with their gang’s stenciled logo which they produced in Mrs. Dovey’s art class.  Along with Dave Blalock, the other known members of this mob include: Chucky Bailog, Tom Drosky, Gary Hoffman, Paul Marsinco, and Pete Secora. Also, Rich Bosworth and Dick Burke took part in many of this gang’s villainous activities. (Note: For a short period of time in 1966 a business-offshoot of this gang known as Burke, Blalock, Drosky Personal Protection Insurance offered to defend, for a small fee, any student who was picked-on by the school’s bullies.)

— In October of 1966 a section of the school had to be evacuated because of highly noxious odors after someone placed dried fish into the heating system. Despite an extensive investigation and psychologically brutal closed-door interrogations, conducted by school authorities, the perpetrators of this foul act of sabotage were never uncovered.

— In the spring of 1967, during the annual senior class trip to the Cambria County Courthouse, a well organized group of students disrupted court proceedings by making animal sounds. On their return trip back to Richland one of the three buses transporting the students was pulled over by the police because some of the students were hanging their bare asses out of the windows. As a result of this unruly, disrespectful activity the County authorities banned, for the next two years, any Richland school trips to the county courthouse.

—In the summer of 1967 the Richland police reported a major act of vandalism when late at night many of the tires on their vehicles had been slashed—while parked behind police headquarters. Authorities believed that this was an act of youthful revenge against a major police campaign to crack down on teenage drinking, drag racing and engaging in prohibited un-married sexual activity in the back seats of their cars.



For the next 11 months, following his high school graduation, Blalock worked at various jobs from constructing a Western Auto Parts store to assembly line work at Abston Fabricators producing metal ammunition boxes for the military.  He also sold Kirby vacuum cleaners and worked on a delivery route restocking and servicing vending machines for Vendmack Vending Machine Company owned by his uncle Bob McCool.



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In January 1968, Blalock turned 18 years-old and fulfilled his legal obligation by registering for the military draft. At the end of this month, the massive bloody “1968 Tet Offensive” in Vietnam shattered any illusions that the war might end before he had to go fight in it. The threat of being drafted into the military now greatly limited any of his opportunities for finding a decent paying job. With no anti war activity going on in his hometown at that time he was led to believe that, “this war was a just cause to free the people from communist tyranny.”

Note:  Above is a photo of a squad of National Liberation Front fighters armed with a rocket propelled grenades and AK-47s next to their enemy in a US tank on the streets of Saigon during the ‘Tet Offensive’ fighting. Photo from archives of sirnosir.com

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In February 1968 Blalock and his best friend visit the Army Recruiter.

With the threat of the military draft greatly limiting their job possibilities Dave Blalock from Richland and Tom Drosky from near-by Mine 37, both  1967 graduates from Richland Township High School, volunteer for a three year hitch in the army.

Blalock served in the army from May 1968 thru June 1971. In his book manuscript, An Ex-GI Remembers Vietnam: The Hidden Legacy of Soldiers in Revolt, Book One—The Awakening, he wrote:

    “You have to realize that neither Tom nor I wanted to go to the war, but back then we didn’t have too many options. I can recall thinking that my life had felt like it was being controlled by an unseen hand that was blocking all the exits from a burning building which I was trapped in — all except for one and that was the door with a sign saying ‘Armed Forces Recruiting Center.’ Later on in life some people asked me why I didn’t avoid military service by going to Canada. After all, a lot of youth back then were doing it.

     But you have to understand the culture of where I lived. There was no REAL anti war movement at that time in our town—at least none that I was aware of. My questioning of the status quo was just beginning. Back then, to be labeled as a ‘Draft Dodger’ was practically on the same level as being a ‘Murderer’, a ‘Rapist’, or a ‘Thief’. If I would have had a stronger understanding then about why this War was wrong, I think I would have done something to oppose it. At that time the system had successfully molded my political consciousness into being a stupid patriotic fool and a sucker for the government’s lies justifying the war! I truly believed that some how we were bringing ‘Freedom and Democracy’ to the Vietnamese people and so for me, the only honorable thing to do was go into the military.”



For details of how Dave and his buddy Tom dealt with the army recruiter see Chapter 3 The Army Recruiter: Beware He’s a Shrewd Operator in his book.

(Note: Above cartoon commentary on military recruiters appeared in many of the hundreds of GI underground newspapers that were published during the 1960’s and 70’s.





In late June 1968, Blalock went AWOL for 9 days from an army basic training course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in order to see his fiancée Virginia “Dolly” Sturm.

For this action he was court-martialed and sentenced to a prison term of “six months at hard labor” in the base stockade.



As a result of overcrowded conditions and brutal guards a series of revolts were then erupting throughout the US military’s prison system —this also happened while Blalock was incarcerated in the Fort Jackson stockade.  After serving one month of hard labor time the army then suspended his remaining prison sentence and sent him back to start basic training again. He writes a detailed account of his experiences there in Chapter 5: AWOL, Army Prison and a Mini-Riot of his book*.

(Note: Photo above was the entrance to the Ft. Dix, NJ stockade. In June 1969 a group of black and white radical GIs led a major prison uprising of 300 inmates who burn down the stockade in protest against oppressive deplorable conditions. One of their demands was “Free Huey Newton, the NY Panther 21, the Presidio 27, and all political prisoners”. The Brass frames 38 GIs on charges of “inciting to riot.” The graphic below comes from: http://www.events.at/static/binaries/thn/576/236/5/img_600x600.jpg



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In October 1968 Blalock finally completed basic training and was sent to Fort Gordon, Georgia for a three-month Communication Center Specialist course.

It was there that he had his first contact with the anti war movement. It came through the words printed in The Last Harass — an anti war underground newspaper, clandestinely produced, and distributed by a group of GIs stationed at this base.





Left is the cover of one of the nearly 300 underground newspapers put out by radical GI groups at US military facilities around the world during the Vietnam War. For a highly descriptive account of Blalock`s experience at this base see Chapter 7 Advanced Training: Army Communications School and an Underground GI Newspaper in his book*

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Blalock then spent one year in Vietnam from February 1969 to February 1970.

There he was assigned to the 210th Combat Aviation Battalion located at a small base camp called Long Thanh North. Describing the end of his year in the war zone Blalock wrote in the Epilogue to his book*:

“I learned from first hand experience that this war had nothing to do with bringing ‘Freedom and Democracy’ to the Vietnamese people. America’s justification for all the death and destruction it brought down on these folks was nothing but a damned lie! The vast majority of them supported the Viet Cong’s fight for national liberation and freedom from foreign domination. They were involved in a righteous struggle because this was their country and their land and we had no business being there!”



Throughout his time in Vietnam Blalock’s observation of this reality, along with the political influence of Black Panther Party supporters in his unit, had propelled him into various radical activities in the war zone ranging from taking part in “search and avoid” patrols to participating in his first anti war demonstration in November 1969 at his base camp.



Step-by-step, he became involved in the GI anti war resistance movement. It was a movement without any centralized organization but its powerful rebellious attitudes and actions were spreading like a wild fire among the US troops in the war zone. From combat refusals, to a general “Fuck Authority” mind-set, to sabotage and fraggings, this movement was beginning to wreck havoc on the ability of America’s military to wage the ground war. As a result, in May of 1969 President Nixon was forced to order the army high command to begin the slow withdrawal of infantry troops from Vietnam. For more info about Blalock’s time in the war zone read chapters 8 thru 11 in his book. Note: Above photo was clipped from Storm Warning published by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (AI)









In February 1970 Blalock completed his tour of duty in Vietnam and returned to the US to conclude the remaining 16 months of his army enlistment contract.



His first duty assignment was with the 53rd Aviation Battalion at Fort Rucker, Alabama (April 1970 to June 1970). While there he participated in his first anti war demonstration in the U.S. It was on “Armed Forces Day” May 16, 1970 when he, along with 75 other angry soldiers, defied the orders from their commander and joined with several hundred university students at a raucous peace rally outside the entrance to this base.



Note: Also on this day thousands of other GIs staged antiwar actions across the country forcing the Pentagon to cancel it’s regularly scheduled “Armed Forces Day celebrations” at over 40 US military bases. The photo above is a group of nearly 1,000 GIs from Fort Hood, Texas on an Armed Forces Day protest march through the streets of Killeen, TX. (From archives of sirnosir.com)

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In June 1970, three weeks after the above demonstration, Blalock was transferred to Fort McClellan, Alabama.

Upon his arrival he immediately joined a radical group already in existence at this base called GIs & WACs United Against the War. Some soldiers who had returned from duty in Vietnam a year earlier had initiated this organization. The recently discharged Sergeant Skip Delano stayed in the area to help develop and maintain, along with other civilian support, an off base center for this organization.



Blalock participated in a broad range of this group’s activities from helping to produce and clandestinely distribute its underground newspaper Left Face, to organizing different anti war campaigns on the base. He also participated in various other disruptive actions that fought against, as he saw it, "the oppressive power structure in the military.”

He took part in a convoy of GIs from this base that drove up to Washington, DC to take part in an April 23, 1971 action sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War by throwing their war medals onto the steps of the US Capital into container labeled “TRASH.”  (Photo Left.)

Due to transport difficulties they arrived too late to take part in the vet’s demonstration. So the next day they joined with a large group of over 1,000 other active duty GIs to lead 750,000 antiwar protesters through the streets of the nation’s capital.



In early May 1971 Blalock, along with his other comrades in GIs & WACs United Against the War, mobilized a contingent of soldiers from Ft McClellan to march in picket lines to show solidarity for the striking hospital workers in the near-by town of Anniston, Alabama. Shortly after this event he, along with three other leaders of this radical GI group, was arrested in a joint operation conducted by the Alabama State Police and the Army Criminal Investigation Division who attempted to disrupt their organization by charging them with marijuana distribution. After spending several weeks in the Calhoun County Jail the judge was forced to drop the charges against them due to lack of evidence and political pressure created by several large protest demonstrations of GIs and local civilians outside the jail.

Over all, Blalock spent his last year in the army deeply involved in and greatly enjoying the work of organizing his fellow soldiers to “revolt against this death machine and bring an end to this unjust war.”

(Note: Along with Vietnam veterans Skip Delano & Dave Dorey the other civilians who operated this off-base GI resistance center were former radical student activists and civil rights workers. They maintained a small library of books and a broad array English language news publications from radical groups in the US and world-wide. They also held monthly showings of documentary movies produced by radical film makers at Newsreel. See below for some the films that Blalock watched back then and can be viewed on-line today:



--A 1969 film called “Mayday” from the Black Panther Party Library/Newsreel Films.

http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com/View/749488



-- Off The Pigs from The Black Panther Party Library/Newsreel Films (Richmond, VT: Newsreel Films, 1968) 14:05.

http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com/View/748844



-- Repression from The Black Panther Party Library/Newsreel Films (Richmond, VT: Newsreel Films, 1969) 12:39.

http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com/View/749489



--A 1968 film about a student uprising called “Columbia Revolt” from Newsreel Films.

http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com/View/578635



Graphic above from Left Face Vol. 1 nr. 4.

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Following Blalock’s discharge from the army in June 1971 he continued to fight for the cause of the soldier’s rebellion.



He did this by working full time for the United States Servicemen’s Fund in its Boston office. This organization raised money and helped to build support for the wide-spread GI resistance centers and their underground newspapers that were then flourishing at US military bases across America and in West Germany. His work also involved meetings with radical soldier groups at various military bases on the east coast and attending a national GI movement strategy meeting in Michigan.



















Note: The cartoons above are a few of those published by the GI Underground Press. These anti-war publications were produced by nearly 300 groups of radical US military personal stationed at bases throughout the world. They were an integral part of the GI movement which played a significant role in bringing about America’s just defeat in the unjust Vietnam War. Without Their Troops The Powers-that-Be Have NO Real Power!  The producers of the documentary film “Sir, No Sir” have an excellent on-line achieve of the GI press. See:



http://sirnosir.com/archives_and_resources/galleries/gi_papers.html

 



 In late 1971 or early 1972 Dave Blalock along with Skip Delano, Dave Dorey and Matt Rinaldi appear on a Boston PBS TV discussion program about the USSF and the GI Movement. (Newspaper Collage below comes from archives of sirnosir.com)

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In the spring of 1972 Blalock went to Cuba as part of the Venceremos Brigade. There he, along with a group of Vietnam veterans and other radical US citizens, spent several months doing construction work to build housing for a large farming co-operative near Havana. While in Cuba Blalock also had the opportunity to meet with members of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front and with freedom fighters from several African countries. As it was illegal to travel directly from the US to Cuba he and other Brigade members had to fly via Mexico City to Havana. On his return trip to the US he traveled by a Cuban freight ship via Canada where most of his photos and notes were confiscated by the U.S. FBI in collaboration with Canadian Customs Police.

(Note: One of the veterans who had participated in the Venceremos Brigade was a member of the New Orleans chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and would also turn out to be operating as a paid informant for the New Orleans police and the FBI. Later in 1972, this spy would testify against Dave Blalock and other Venceremos Brigade Vietnam vets at investigation hearings conducted by the U.S. Congress's House Un-American Activities Committee.)

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Blalock moved to New York City in the early summer of 1972 following his return from Cuba. There he became active in the New York City Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).Through out the summer of 1972 Blalock worked full time with his army GI resistance comrade, Skip Delano, organizing for VVAW’s The Last Patrol anti war campaign that began with a series of three convoys of war veterans which traveled down the east coast, from the Mid-west and the west coast of the US to converge in Miami Beach for the week long Republican National Convention in August. There, over 1,200 veterans along with ten thousand other protesters had to battle the police in order to politically confront President Nixon with their powerful antiwar message.





On their way to Miami Beach the large east coast VVAW convoy, which Blalock was part of, had camped outside of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Several army units there, from the 82nd Airborne Division, had been put on alert for riot-control duty at the Republican Convention.  He took part in a squad of VVAW members that, with the help of a local anti war GI organization, was smuggled onto the base. There the vets issued a written statement and verbally appealed to a company of troops standing in formation by calling on them to refuse to do riot control duty against the protesters in Miami. This message from the vets was extremely well received by these soldiers so the next day the Pentagon was forced to cancel their orders for Miami.

Note: The Florida National Guard was also mobilized to protect the Republican Convention. In response, VVAW held a massive march in front of the building housing the guardsmen and called on them to refuse to fight against the war protesters. This particular VVAW action politically neutralized the National Guard making them an ineffective fighting force to support the police during the massive street fighting which occurred later in the week. Photo above of VVAW protest march at Republican convention in Miami clipped out of unknown newspaper.



(GI Press cartoon from: http://sirnosir.com/archives_and_resources/galleries/gi_papers.html )

In the autumn of 72 Dave Blalock, Skip Delano and Danny Freedman, along with several other N.Y.C. VVAW members, were arrested after fighting off a police attempt to remove their organizational banner during a special “Honor the Veterans” New York Mets baseball game. He also took part in the street fighting which occurred during a mass protest against President Nixon’s election campaign visit to the city but he avoided being arrested by the police. For link to VVAW history see:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3AhGjLUf8SYC&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=%22Bart+Savage+Vietnam+veteran%22&source=bl&ots=Tiw6u9eYul&sig=_jqZ3p7S-G9pU0lt0wLN2ogSxR8&hl=en&ei=Ll1cS5KEEIOnsAbIqtW3Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false



Throughout this period Blalock worked with Delano to man the NYC VVAW office and publish the chapter’s newspaper called Lock n’ Load.

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According to the Department of Defense, there were 503,926 incidents of GI desertion during the Vietnam War.



For much of 1973 Blalock participated in VVAW’s campaign of demonstrations and other actions that demanded Universal and Unconditional Amnesty for All War Resisters which included not only those who avoided military service by going to Canada but also military deserters and those who received bad discharges.



During the late winter he also took part with some other VVAW members in various activities to support the American Indian Movement whose Wounded Knee encampment on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota was under violent military siege by the US Army. To read a statement from the Indian tribes and VVAW in their support see this link:

 http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=987

(Note: For 6 months of 1973 Blalock also worked as a part time cashier for the newly-formed New York City Off-Track Betting.)

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In 1974 Blalock moved from New York City across the Hudson River to Jersey City, NJ, where he worked tirelessly to build up the North Jersey Chapter of VVAW.

Their organization confronted the US military recruiters who appeared like a flock of vultures at various university campuses.

(Today in 2010 the military has adjusted its recruiting strategies to adapt to the empire’s needs for future cannon-fodder for its never ending wars by sending recruiters into kindergartens to begin an indoctrination program. Poster left is produced by folks opposing this.)



In 1975 the North Jersey and New York City Chapters of VVAW, also launched a wide-ranging operation that targeted the US Veterans Administration for its mistreatment of war veterans. During this campaign Dave Blalock and Danny Freedman, along with several other VVAW members, were arrested by the police after seizing control of the Directors office of the Veterans Administration in Newark, NJ. This occurred while hundreds of vets were outside the building protesting against the squalid inhuman conditions existing in the VA Hospital.

Blalock also participated in a national VVAW demonstration in Washington, DC where the vets successfully fought off police attempts to block their march to the U.S. Capitol Building.



Note: From September 1973 until mid 1976 Blalock also worked a back-breaking job on the midnight shift unloading trucks in a large new mechanized postal facility built on the marsh-lands near Kearny, NJ. There he was elected as a mail handler shop steward in the NY/NJ Metro Area Branch of the American Postal Workers Union. He was also active in a radical rank & file postal workers group, based in this local union, called Outlaw that published an independent newspaper with the same name and led the illegal wild-cat strike movement which occurred during this time period in the Post Office to protest against intense speed-up and dangerous work conditions.

Photo left is the January 1974 wildcat strikers blockading the gate to the NY Bulk & Foreign Mail Facility in Jersey City.

Dave Blalock and an army veteran named Mike Grew played a leading role in organizing the simultaneous wildcat strike at the nearby Kearny, NJ Regional Postal Facility. There they, along with APWU facility director Ken Leiner, who was also an Outlaw supporter, managed to unite the leader of a white racist gang from Jersey City called BONES (Beat On Niggers Every Second) who worked there with the leader of a radical Black nationalist group from Newark who was also working there. Together they, along with large contingent of radical workers affiliated with Outlaw, battled a large contingent of riot police and successfully shut down postal operations for several days.

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On July 4, 1976 Blalock, along with a large group of Vietnam veterans and thousands of radical workers, protested in Philadelphia, PA against the government sponsored celebrations of America’s bicentennial. They demonstrated under the slogan:

We Carried the Rich for 200 Years —

Let’s Get Them Off Our Backs!



(Note: With the world economic collapse that began in 2008 this is an Ideal slogan for people to march under. Except today, the large word REVOLUTION should underline it.)







Following this demonstration Blalock was fired from his Postal job and quickly joined with others to form a branch of the Unemployed Workers Organizing Committee in Jersey City. He played a leading role in establishing UWOC’s militant presence both inside and outside the Jersey City Unemployment Center by continuously agitating against the government’s attempts to cut back unemployment benefits and putting forth the organization’s demand for Jobs or Income Now! He was also a delegate at a national UWOC meeting in Detroit where the group drew up plans to organize a counter-offensive against the government’s attempts to drive-down the wages and standard of living for the workers. (Note: In September of 1976 Dave Blalock and Kathy Brady, who had also been very active together in the Outlaw postal group, became proud parents of their son named Michael. In 1978 Kathy separated from Dave because of his unstable life style. In 1980 she cut off all contact between Dave and his family with their son Mike. Kathy then married Rob Devigne and changed Mike’s last name from Blalock to Devigne. Dave has had no contact with his son since 1980. Today, in 2009, Mike Devigne is a musician living in New York City working under the name Guitar Bomb.)

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In 1977, Blalock helped to organize a national UWOC demonstration of thousands of unemployed workers that converged in Washington, DC. There they protested against attempts by the U.S. Congress to cut back unemployment relief funds and force people to work for lower wages—all done to increase the rate of profit for corporate America.

While most of the action at this demonstration was happening in the streets, Blalock took part in a special squad of unemployed workers from Jersey City and New York City that infiltrated the visitor’s gallery at the U.S. Congress. There they succeeded in totally disrupting the proceedings by unfurling their banners and loudly chanting Jobs or Income Now! While this was going on a small team of women from the Jersey City housing projects dumped 100’s of live cock-roaches onto the heads of the politicians sitting below. Needless to say: No law was passed that day which would cut back unemployment benefits, but Blalock and some other squad members were arrested by the police.



(Note: In 1977 Blalock also took part with a squad of VVAW members to sabotage President Jimmy Carter’s open-air welcoming ceremony for the Shaw of Iran in Washington, DC. They did this to support 5,000 angry Iranian students protesting against the Shaw who was scheduled to appear in a temporary arena behind the White House. For a Flash forward go to July 2009 in this document.) 

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In 1978 and 1979 Blalock was active in the radical National United Workers Organization which had members in the auto, steel, mining, communication, postal, electrical and garment industries.

During this period, along with backing up a printers strike in New Jersey, he was very involved in NUWO’s extensive campaign of building support for the United Mine Workers Union members who were waging a wildcat strike movement in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. As part of this he helped to organize a mass political drive by the local NUWO and UWOC groups in Jersey City that leafleted supermarkets and collected a truck-load of customer-donated food from people supporting the striking miners. They then delivered these goods by convoy to a striking mine workers local union in Portage, Pennsylvania. (Note: Portage was located near Blalock’s hometown of Johnstown where his brother Larry Blalock, who was a NUWO leader at the local Bethlehem Steel plant, also played a major role in this endeavor.) Both of the Blalock brothers also participated in a mass protest march organized by NUWO of several thousand striking miners and other workers through the streets of Washington, DC. This action was broken up by the police after a truck-load of coal was dumped onto the middle of the street directly in front of the White House.



During 1978 Blalock was employed in various Temporary jobs:

First he worked as a helper at the Federal Machine Co in Jersey City. Then he became a seam-welder operator on the assembly line at United Steel Container Company in North Brunswick, NJ. Finally he worked as warehouse man supplying parts for dry-docked ships being repaired at the Bethlehem Steel Ship Yard in Hoboken, NJ.



During his periods of joblessness the government denied him the right to collect unemployment benefits. In an act of desperation he sold his blood for $7 per-pint, twice a week, to a company in Jersey City. This firm separated his white blood cells from his red cells, sold his white plasma to Revlon and other cosmetic companies and then returned the red cells back into his body.

Note: In a hand written side-bar on the draft manuscript of his second book, “…Bringing the War Home and Beyond,” Blalock angrily comments about this time period.

Every day I was learning more and more about the intricate workings of this “wonderful capitalist system” and the vast “Freedoms” that it democratically provides for all classes of people in America:

When their fucking Vampire-like system can’t “freely” squeeze anymore profit from your “freely” sold labor power, they’ll toss you “freely” onto the street with no means of survival! Then they’ll “freely” use your desperation to literally suck out your blood, which you “freely” sell to them, in order that they can “freely” extract from you some extra cash to feed to their “freedom-loving” and forever-hungry-God of PROFIT.



During 1979 Blalock worked the whole year on the assembly line producing room-size air-conditioners at the White-Westinghouse factory in Edison, NJ. At the end of the year he was fired from this job after he, along with Peter Drootin, organized a group of line workers to publish an underground newspaper called Knock It Off which supported various slow-downs and sabotage actions that were being taken by disgruntled workers against the intense line speed-up and unsafe conditions. On his last day of work Blalock wore a bright yellow T shirt bearing the slogan THEY CANT FIRE ME! SLAVES HAVE TO BE SOLD. (See photo below of this T shirt which is still in his possession.) A near riot occurred when 500 assembly line workers temporarily stopped production to protest with loud booing and cursing against the plant manager and two supervisors as they were hands-on removing Blalock from the factory.

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During the 1980s Blalock joined with James Allen, Bob Carson, Ben Chitty, Skip Delano, Joe Urgo and other war veterans in the New York/New Jersey area to form a group called Vietnam Vets United to Prevent World War 3 (VVUPWW3).



This group published a newspaper called Nothing to Lose and spoke out against U.S. President Reagan’s massive build up of America’s nuclear arsenals. During this decade he also took part in demonstrations to stop the construction of the Trident Nuclear Submarine and actions opposing the USA’s bloody counter-insurgency wars in El Salvador, Nicaragua and other countries throughout Central America. Their group also exposed and opposed cultural attempts by the US ruling class to negate the history of the GI Revolt that occurred during the Vietnam War and sold the button above as one of their fundraising activities.

In 1986 the VVUPWW3 teamed up with a bus-load of veterans from Boston known as the Smedly Butler Brigade to go to Washington, DC in support of four veterans who were holding a water-only fast on the steps of the US Capital to protest against U.S. wars in Central America. (See ph above: L-R Vietnam vets George Mizo & Brian Wilson, Word War 2 vet Duncan Murphy, and Vietnam vet Charlie Liteky.) Immediately following this support rally the bus-load of veterans made a detour to a suburban Washington hotel that was hosting a large gathering of arms dealers, military officers and politicians. In a disciplined manner the vets carried out a, guerrilla/political action by marching into the hotel’s large conference room and chanting anti war cadence. Their action totally disrupted this gathering of high-class warmongers and the vets escaped the hotel parking lot just as 5 police cars arrived. Note: In 1987 Brian Wilson (Photo above) will lose both legs during a protest blockade of a military munitions train in California. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/01/BA4VRRKCU.DTL

 

From 1980 to 1990 Blalock also worked as a lead chemical operator on the packaging lines and as a tank truck driver for Castrol Oil in Edison, NJ. He was active in Local 8-406 Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. In 1981 he was elected the chief shop steward for the Castrol Oil group where he fought for the workers in daily disputes with the company and took part in negotiating 4 successive labor contracts with the company which were highly beneficial  for the workers. In 1988 he was also elected as vice-president of this amalgamated local union, based in Bayonne, NJ, where he took part in several organizing drives. Blalock along with Ken Mitchell, the local union’s president, was instrumental in organizing the union’s Strike Task Force that mobilized militant workers from various companies in the local to take whatever action was necessary to support those who happened to be on strike. During this time he also took part in a massive blockade of BASF’s U.S. headquarters in New Jersey to protest against this giant German firm’s attempt to break the union at its Geismar, Louisiana chemical plant. For more on this labor dispute see the book Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner p. 246. Or read it on line at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=t1vFidPTWjAC&pg=PT268&lpg=PT268&dq=%22OCAW+strike%22&source=bl&ots=pXLij2QPcH&sig=L4ZfXfHpPtZ_QJy7_2pOhvsSqTs&hl=en&ei=-tleS6THNZCknQOc-pjVDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwADge#v=onepage&q=%22OCAW%20strike%22&f=false



The photo of the logo below comes from an old T-shirt still in Blalock’s possession.




(In 1982 Dave Blalock married Audrey Levy and in 1984 they became proud parents of their daughter Kerry.

In the 1992 Dave and Audrey got divorced. She then married Travis Morales and changed Kerry’s last name to Morales. During the 1991 Gulf War his daughter Kerry took her first antiwar action by refusing to wear a yellow ribbon in a school sponsored program to honor the troops. Since the late 90s Kerry has been politically active in the fight against police repression, against the wars, and involved in an immigrant rights group. In 2007 she gave birth to a healthy boy that her and her man David Vanegas decided to name “Riot.”)

(Left: 2008 photo of Blalock’s grandson Riot and daughter Kerry.)



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In 1989 Blalock, along with other members of VVUPWW3, took part in a campaign initiated by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Anti Imperialist) to expose and oppose the mandatory patriotism of the government’s new Flag Protection Act that was rammed through the US congress by President Bush.

On October 28, 1989, the day this law took effect, he participated with several hundred others in a late night march and rally in New York City’s Lower East Side where hundreds of American flags were torched in protest against this new law. In Seattle, VVAW-AI also organized a ‘Festival of Defiance’ where 1,000 US flags along with a McDonald’s flag were symbolically napalmed in front of the Post Office. Their overall slogan for these actions was “Down with Fascist Flag Amendments and Laws.”

No one was arrested at the time of these demonstrations. So several days later Dave Blalock, along with Shawn Eichman, Joey Johnson and Dred Scot Tyler went to Washington, DC and in front of the world’s media burned American flags on the steps of the US Capital. They were arrested by police and their protest action took them all the way to the US Supreme Court where they successfully overturned the government’s law that banned flag-burning. (For more on Dred Scot’s controversial art leading up to the flag-burning see: http://www.dreadscott.net/whatis.html )



As a result of his participation in this action Blalock lost his job at Castrol Oil. After living for several months under serious death threats from local right-wing patriotic forces he was forced to sell his house in Highland Park, NJ. Then he, along with his wife Audrey and 6 year old daughter Kerry, moved to Houston, TX.































In the summer of 1990 the US government began a massive troop mobilization to fight against Iraq in the Gulf War. At the same time the first of over 2,000 individual GIs began refusing to participate in this war.



Blalock was a delegate to the August 1990 national meeting of VVAW (AI) in Seattle. There he helped to develop the organization’s campaign to support the troops that refused to fight. He spent most of the remainder of the year in Houston Texas where he participated with other Vietnam veterans, in conjunction with local antiwar groups, to leaflet, rally and speak out against this Blood for Oil War in front of various US Army and Marine Corps reserve centers located there.



Photo/news clip above of Marine Corporal Jeff Paterson from Storm Warning a publication of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (AI)

        





In January 1991 Blalock responded to a call from VVAW (AI) for veterans to go to Germany to support the growing antiwar movement among US troops based there.

On January 13th, his 41st birthday and the day after his arrival in Germany, Blalock addressed U.S. GIs caught in a traffic jam created by 10,000 anti war protesters blockading the U.S. Rhine Mein Air Force Base in Frankfurt. (In the old photo left of this action: front L-R, Peter Gunn, Dave Blalock, and Brian Chambers; rear L-R, XGI Bo and Darnell Summers.)

             

Several days following this demonstration Dave Blalock and two other Vietnam veterans, Darnell Summers and Brian Chambers, along with a US army reservist named Sam Price and a group of active duty GIs based in Worms Germany formed the Stop The War Brigade. Their organization quickly expanded to include the spouses of soldiers who were forced to fight in the war and German army reservists along with veterans from their military. With a lot of help from various elements of the German peace movement the STWB was able to spread it’s anti war message to US military personnel based in Germany.



During his three months in Germany Blalock participated in 70 antiwar actions carried out by the STWB. He took part in a broad range of its activities from addressing American troops during the massive blockades of the U.S.’s Rhine Mein Air Force base in Frankfurt, the US Army’s Headquarters in Heidelberg, at a large US Army Black Hawk helicopter base in Fulda and a spontaneous blockade of a US army base in Berlin (Photo left), to small secret meetings with groups of GIs who were planning their refusal to fight.



Note: See the following link that will connect you with a file containing the Stars and Stripes newspaper coverage of several STWB actions beginning with 1991 thru 2005:  http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/stwb/StarsStripesWin.html

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On 4-29-91, following his return from Germany, Dave Blalock, along with Grant Dyer who was a British army veteran/exchange student at the University of Mississippi, were keynote speakers at a large public program in Oxford, Mississippi titled “From Vietnam to Iraq—Veterans speak out about western militarism.”  Note: Despite the fact that Blalock was billed as the ‘flag-burning Vietnam Vet’ both his and Dyer’s speeches politically neutralized all attempts by patriotic right-wingers to disrupt the program. Ron Ridenhour, the Vietnam Veteran who first exposed the 1968 My Lai Massacre, was also scheduled to speak but had to cancel due to an illness.



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On 5-1-91 Blalock took part in a mass Revolutionary May 1st rally in Houston, Texas.

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In June 91 Blalock returned to Germany where he conducted an interview with a GI who had recently returned from the Gulf War. (Excerpts of this interview were published in a July 91 issue of the Revolutionary Worker.) He along with Peter Gunn, editor of FighT bAck — Revolutionary Voice of GIs in Europe, also interviewed this soldier’s wife. She was instrumental in organizing a group of US army wives based in Karlsruhe into the Stop The War Brigade while their husbands were fighting in the war.



(Note: See Appendix A-2 at the end of this document for a copy of an extensive report sent by Blalock to VVAW (AI) national headquarters. It provides a detailed accounting of his work and political activity covering the time period of Aug. 91 to March 92.)

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In 1995 Blalock returned to Germany where he spoke for the STWB at a Berlin demonstration supporting the Kurdish People’s just struggle for freedom from domination by the oppressive Turkish government. During this time he also addressed a large fund raising event in Berlin in support of Mumia Abu Jamal an American political prisoner held on death row in a Pennsylvania prison.

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In 1997 Blalock returned again to Germany to address a massive Revolutionary First of May rally of 20,000 people in Berlin. He avoided being arrested when police violently attacked the march which followed the rally.

Thousands of youth responded by burning police cars and waging running battles with the authorities which continued late into the night.

(The top Life photo is from the May 1st 2009 march in Berlin. Every one of these marches in Berlin for the past 20 years has inevitably been attacked by the police…and inevitably the youth respond appropriately!!)

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In March of 1999 Blalock, along with other Vietnam veterans and GI resistance supporters in Germany, met to re-activate the ‘Stop the War Brigade’ and drew up plans to oppose the US/ NATO invasion of Yugoslavia.



They issued a statement — translated into 5 different languages — to the troops of the US led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) exposing the unjust nature of this war and called on them to “Stop the war in Europe! Refuse to support this new wave of aggression! Just say no!” It also called on civilians to “Support Anti War Resistance in the Military!” This statement was signed by dozens of war veterans from many different countries around the world.



During this brief but bloody war the STWB expanded its active membership to include old veterans from the former Soviet Union’s Red Army living in Germany. Over the next month Blalock addressed American troops at the anti war blockade of a US Air Force Base in Spangdahlem, Germany and at a massive march that shut down the US Army Headquarters in Heidelberg.



Note: Throughout the 1990s he worked on various construction projects from building natural stone walls and terraces, renovating old houses, large reforestation projects, general electrical work and building new stores inside shopping malls.

In February 1999 Dave Blalock became married to his loving German wife Chris Borger. He then worked as a stage technician for the Heidelberg City Theater.

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In the fall of 2001, the STWB became activated again to protest in various cities of Germany against the US attack on Afghanistan. On October 13, 2001 Blalock addressed a crowd of 50,000 anti war protesters in Stuttgart, Germany, the home of the US Army European Command.

For a copy of his speech see:

http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/stwb/DAV131001Eng.html





In 2002 President Bush began to promote plans to expand the USA’s so-called “War on Terror” by next attacking Iraq.

Note: Blalock returned to the US for the first 6 months of this year where he worked as an electrician on various construction projects. On April 20, 2002 he took part in a massive protest demonstration against the Afghanistan War in Washington, DC.

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In August 2002, following his return from the US, Blalock was part of the Stop The War Brigade delegation that participated in a five-day international gathering of anti imperialist organizations in Assisi, Italy.

He and other STWB members spoke in several workshops arguing that organizations based in imperialist countries should focus some effort on getting their anti-imperialist message across to the soldiers in their respective armies. But, for various reasons, this view was not adopted by this conference.

For final resolution of this political conference see:  http://www.antiimperialista.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3400&Itemid=0

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On October 10, 2002 Dave Blalock, along with another Vietnam Veteran Darnell Summers, and Ken Nichols a US army veteran of the ‘91 Gulf War, participated in a STWB press conference in Berlin.

There they announced a  campaign by their organization to denounce the U.S. government’s moves towards “Perpetual War;” widely spread their message to U.S. soldiers based in Europe; and “call on all troops involved in this offensive to REFUSE…RESIST…REBEL!!” (For a copy of their statement to the soldiers see: http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/stwb/IntCallEnggo.html )   They received support from various peace groups, fairly decent coverage in a German national daily newspaper called "Junge Welt," and on an international German/French TV network called “ARTE.”



Later that same day these same three veterans were also featured in a well attended program titled “American Wars? First-hand Accounts, Impressions, Consequences,” sponsored by the “Rosa Luxemburg Foundation” and the “German Peace Council.” There they conducted a multi media panel discussion about the history of the GI Anti War Movement from Vietnam to the Present Day.



At this program Blalock spoke in depth about his experiences in the soldier’s revolt in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and the direct connection between the GI movement and the civilian anti war and the Black liberation struggle movements occurring at that time in America.





Ken Nichols spoke about his experience as a soldier in the 91 Gulf War and focused on why he burnt his US passport and has renounced his US citizenship.



Darnell Summers spoke about the current attitudes of resistance inside today's US Armed Forces and, with video clips, he allowed present day American GIs to speak out against the war. The question and answer period lasted well into the night and overall they received a very good response. The entire program was filmed by an independent film-maker for ARTE TV.

(Cartoons above from GI Press archives of sirnosir.com)

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On October 26, 2002 there were anti war demonstrations held in 58 different cities across Germany to protest the US attack on Afghanistan: The Stop the War Brigade took part in three of them:

__At the action in Heidelberg, five-hundred anti war protesters braved the cold rain and high winds to rally in the old town and marched out to the main gate of the US Army 5th Corps Headquarters. Armed with a powerful sound system and a sharp exposing message Blalock spoke for the STWB directly to the troops on guard duty and those listening out of the open barracks windows. He ended his speech with a call for the GIs to Refuse, Resist and Rebel against all unjust wars!

Note: An english & german translation of Blalock’s speech is posted on the STWB web site:

http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/stwb/Dave261002Eng_Deu.html

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On November 6-10, 2002 in Florence, Italy Blalock along with other members of the Stop The War Brigade attended the European Social Forum which was organized by a large coalition of Anti-Globalization forces.

As a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (AI) Blalock spoke to a large workshop attended by 3,000 delegates that gathered to hear the various representatives from the Italian, German, French, Greek, Spanish and British anti war coalitions. (Note: With head phones the audience could hear simultaneous language translations of the speeches into their native languages.) Blalock received an enthusiastic applause when he called for the anti war movement in Europe to go to the troops of their respective armies with the purpose of encouraging their own soldiers to refuse to fight in this upcoming unjust war. On the final day, the 40,000 delegates attending this European Social Forum multiplied into a massive anti war protest as over 1 million people who had come from all across Europe to march through the streets of Florence. (Photo above of this demonstration was taken from unknown Italian newspaper covering this action.)

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Beginning in late 2002 Blalock participated in an intense schedule of activity for the next six months, thru the fall of Baghdad to US Forces in the spring of 2003.

Along with participating in the massive February 15, 2003 world-wide day of anti war protests, According to the STWB’s action log book, Blalock also took part in almost all of the nearly 90 other anti war actions taken by the STWB during this time period. His activities ranged from speaking out to the GIs at countless blockades organized by the anti war movement at various US military and NATO bases throughout Germany and Italy, to many smaller actions of leafleting and meeting with soldiers,



For example: In January 2003 the Stop the War Brigade had participated in a small 24 hour peace vigil at the entrance to Campbell Barracks at the U.S. Army’s 5th Corps Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. Left is one of  5 photos that appeared in a fairly positive article about this action titled Veterans Lead Group at Heidelberg Post in the Jan. 20, 2003 European edition of the Stars & Stripes (see link below) . The caption printed under this photo reads:

“Stop the War Brigade members, Dave Blalock, left, G. James, and Darnell Summers, right, look over a pamphlet outside Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, Germany, on Thursday night. Blalock and Summers are U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War and are protesting against potential war in Iraq, calling on soldiers of all nations to ‘refuse, resist and rebel,’ taking part in any action in Iraq.”



Note: Both this article’s writer Rick Scavetta and the photographer Raymond Conway are U.S. Army veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. For more see:



          http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=12074&archive=true





Note: Below is photo of Blalock taken on March 1, 2003 addressing the troops at a mass protest blockade of 5,000 people of the U.S. Army 5TH Corps headquarters in Heidelberg. He began his speech by saying:



“President Bush claims that you are going into this war in Iraq to ‘Fight Terrorism.’ Well let me explain something to you: I am a former member of the largest, most deadly terrorist organizations ever know to mankind —the United States Armed Forces.  With massive bombing and deadly chemical weapons, along with old fashioned search and destroy patrols this organization exterminated nearly 3,000,000 Vietnamese — mostly innocent civilians — all done to bring so-called ‘Freedom and Democracy’ to those poor folks.”



Blalock concluded his speech saying:

“As I have already explained to you, it was the revolt of us GIs that played a major role in bringing an end to the unjust Vietnam War… And to that smirking young Captain standing over by the guard shack — the one who kept negatively shaking his head throughout my speech — I have this to say: Hey man, you better change your attitude once you get into the war zone because if you don’t,  you might end up being fragged by one of your own men like happened to nearly 1000 gung-ho officers and NCOs during the Vietnam war….



“To you other men and women on guard duty or listening out of the barracks windows I have this to ask: Are you going to be a sucker for the lying politicians? Are you going to be a mindless fool and obediently march off to slaughter people in a foreign land who never did you any harm? Or are you going to follow the great traditions of GIs during the Vietnam War by Refusing, Resisting and Rebelling against this upcoming unjust war? The choice is your’s. Do the right thing!”



Note: In the photo above, standing next to Blalock, is Dave Carson, a U.S. Army veteran of the 1991 Gulf War who refused to fight. He was taken in chains by the U.S. Army from Germany to the war zone and then forced to help clean-up several thousand dead civilians slaughtered by American pilots on a 20 mile stretch of road labeled the “Highway of Death” in northern Kuwait—all to provide sanitized photo-ops for the press (Photo directly left.)

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In June 2003 Dave Blalock, G. James and Tony Quantrel represented the STWB in a massive 4 day-long action against an international G-8 Summit meeting near Geneva, Switzerland.

Despite the extremely provocative and brutal actions by the Swiss police — along with their extensive use of tear gas — nearly 100,000 protesters managed to stage a successful march through Geneva, but failed to reach the G-8 Summit site. (Above LIFE photo captures night time street-fighting as protesters use fireworks to resist attack by a phalanx of riot police.)

At another event during these days of action: The STWB team joined with a well-organized international group of 5,000 young protesters who tried to out-flank the Swiss police to reach the G-8 Summit site by crossing the boarder and taking a 5 mile march along a French farm road. After 6 hours of intense heroic fighting against the special-trained French Riot Police, whose reserve forces were also transported by truck and helicopter, the protesters were only able to march half of the 5 mile distance. Following one final massive, but unsuccessful assault to break through the tear gas and stun-grenade equipped police lines, the protesters retreated back to their camp; tended to their injuries; summed up the situation and then partied to loud techno music.

Note: Along with the wounded protesters, many of the thousands of cattle and horses grazing in the surrounding pristine farm land also suffered severe psychological and physical harm from the vast amounts of tear-gas used by the police during this battle. Following these G-8 demonstrations the STWB members accepted an offer of a three-day rest from a sympathetic Swiss army veteran who runs a small sheep and goat farm high up on the snow-lines of the Swiss Alps. 

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On November 12-15 2003 Blalock, G. James and Tony Quantrel represented the STWB at the European Social Forum gathering in Paris, France. There they took part in various workshops and encouraged the participants to spread their anti war message to the troops in their armies. The Forum was much more than protest. The theme was 'another world is possible'. It was vast. There were 53 plenary, 233 seminars, 306 workshops, 187 cultural events and 14 related conferences held in four widely separated and distant suburbs of Paris. On the final day they joined in a massive anti war protest march of 80,000 people through the streets of Paris.

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On November 19-20 2003 Blalock and the STWB team then spent 2 days in London, England. The first night there they took part in an action involving 10,000 youthful protesters who battled the police in front of Buckingham Palace in an attempt to block US President Bush from sleeping there. The next day they joined in a massive anti war protest of 200,000 people through the streets of London. There they connected up with a large contingent of U.S. exchange students who taught them the following two, somewhat poetic chants:

George Bush

We know you

Your Daddy WAS

A Killer TOO!

The second chant went like this:

The War on Terror Is a Lie

George Bush AIN’T got No Alibi

He’s a RACIST

He’s a FASCHISTS

AND HE’S

  STUPID!!



The demonstration ended with 200,000 people cheering as huge statue of President Bush, holding a bomb, is toppled to the ground.



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On November 22, 2003 Dave Blalock spoke for the STWB at an American Voices Abroad conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

For this panel discussion Blalock, along with Ahmad Ghlim, Iraqi Forum Czech Republic and Dr. Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous with Americans Against War/Democrats Abroad Lebanon, were asked to speak on “How should American opponents to the War in Iraq respond now?” Following the question and answer period Scott Ritter, Gulf War Veteran and former UNSCOM weapons inspector, also gave a speech.

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For the first 6 months of 2004 Blalock returned to the US.

During this time he took part in three anti war protest actions.

_The first was in his home city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania where he addressed an anti war rally sponsored by a local peace group and attended by the relatives of a local young soldier recently killed in Iraq.



_The second demonstration was a massive anti war march and rally held in Pittsburgh on the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.



_The third demonstration also occurred in Pittsburgh where police attacked a section of an anti war rally protesting against President Bush’s presence in the city.

(Note: While in the US Blalock also worked as an electrician on a university’s new-housing construction site.)



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On March 24, 2005 Blalock participated in a press conference in Darmstadt, Germany in support of Blake Lamoine (Left), a US Army Specialist who had already served a year in Iraq and now wanted no more involvement with the military and its unjust war. He was about to receive a courts martial for his anti war activity.

Blalock’s statement of support for Lemoin concluded with the following:

“Today we offer our heartfelt salute to Army Specialist Blake Lamoine for the heroic action that he is now taking to oppose the military’s death machine. We also offer the same salute to the other soldiers who have courageously stepped into the front lines of this new anti war GI resistance movement. We pass no judgment on the tactics that they might use. No matter if they are a “loud mouthed” adversary denouncing the war—Or if they participate in a modern day “Search and Avoid” patrol—Or if they are a conscientious objector—Or if they are a deserter—Or if they go AWOL—Or if they out-right refuse to fight—Or even if they participate in a fragging—it doesn’t matter what form they use to express their discontent. Because taken as a whole all of their efforts are playing a significant role in building a movement that will bring an end to this unjust war. Again, we give all of them our firm salute! The possibility to change the course of the future now lies in their hands.”

 (Photo above is Blake Lamoin at the 2005 Darmstadt, Germany press conference)

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On April 11, 2005 Blalock and Summers from the STWB address the troops at a rally in support of Blake Lemoin at the US Army base in Mannheim housing the Old Coleman Stockade.



Photo: from Stars and Stripes. (Left, wearing a kilt, is former British Army officer Peter Wright speaking to STWB member Tony Quantrel from Liverpool, England. Right is Dave Blalock a spokesman for the STWB.)   For coverage of this action go to: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27561&archive=true

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In the spring of 2005 Blalock and Summers appeared in David Zeiger’s award winning documentary film Sir, NO SIR!



This film is about the soldier’s revolt in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. Since then he has addressed audiences at film showings in various German cities and also in Vienna, Austria.

Note: In December 2006 Blalock and Summers address the audience at a film showing sponsored by local peace groups in Kaiserslautern, Germany which is the home for a U.S. Army facility and an Air Force Base.  One of those in attendance was an American GI named Chris Capps. Following this film, instead of returning back for an ordered second tour of duty in the war zone, he went home on leave and deserted from the army. Capps now lives in Germany with his wife Meika and he heads up Iraqi Veterans Against the War in Europe. In September of 2008 Blalock and Capps teamed up to speak at another Sir, No Sir! film showing in Kaiserslautern.

For more on this film see:   http://www.sirnosir.com.

To view this film on-line see:  http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com/View/526890

Photo above of Blalock from: http://www.naderlibrary.com/sirnosir.toc68.htm

http://sirnosir.com/archives_and_resources/galleries/gi_papers.html

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Since June 2005 Blalock has also been playing himself in a Rimini-Protokoll theatrical production of Schiller’s “WALLENSTEIN” where he and another Vietnam veteran, Darnell Summers, among a cast of ten people out of real life take this opportunity to tell their story in the midst of Intrigue, War & Death.





Along with various cities in Germany this production has also appeared on stage in France and Switzerland. The latest scheduled performance will be at a theater in Berlin in September 2009.



For an English translation of one of the many German newspaper reviews see:

http://www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/en/article_2702.html



(Photo above is Blalock in rehearsal at the Mannheim National Theater printed in the Sunday theater section of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allegemfinezeitung, 5 June 2005.)  Note: During this rehearsal Dave is wearing an old Blalock Electric volley ball team T-shirt sponsored by his brother Larry’s firm. The words on the wall behind him are the simultaneous translation of his English into German for the audience. At the Wallenstein theatrical performances in France the audience wore headphones and could hear the simultaneous translation from German into French.

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Mai 2006 in Frankfurt/M.

On May 13, 2006 STWB spokesmen Blalock and Summers address an international anti war rally in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo left).  There they called for support and solidarity with those from any country who refuse, resist and rebel against unjust wars…no matter what forms their protest may take them into. “When you don’t believe the Power’s Hype then you gotta do what’s RIGHT!!!

Note: In the bottom photo they pose with the other speakers at this rally who are conscientious objectors and military deserters from Angola, Eritrea, Germany, Turkey and the United States.

For a link to the English language website of war resisters in Angola see: http://www.iaadh.de/IAADH_eV/Foundation.php .

For info about Eritrea see: http://www.connection-ev.de/z.php?ID=413



For a rough Google English translation of an article about above demo see link below:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.connection-ev.de/z.php%3FID%3D247&ei=nj2YSdXsC5SS0AWC3P28Ag&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Dave%2BBlalock%2522%26start%3D180%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

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On July 16, 2006 Blalock and Summers from the STWB along with the Granny Peace Brigade and some local activists hold a small antiwar rally in front of the barracks across from the US Army 5th Corps headquarters in Heidelberg. The Granny Peace Brigade, a spunky US based organization, was on a tour of Germany during this time. Photos above and below are banners that this group used in their action.



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Protesters Expose P.O.W. Torture at US Army’s Mannheim Stockade:

Three War Veterans Label it a Modern Day Concentration Camp and Call for Closing it Down!





On Sunday, October 15, 2006, a rally was held just outside the fence separating the U.S. Army’s Mannheim detention facilities from the German civilian neighborhood. It was attended by members of various peace groups from Heidelberg and Mannheim along with a Liberal Party member of the local city council.



Speakers at the rally included Dave Blalock and Darnel Stephen Summers, both U.S. Army veterans and members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (AI) and the Stop The War Brigade which is composed of veterans from American and various European armies. Also speaking was Peter Wright, a former officer in the British Army.



Wright was the first person to address the crowd at the rally: Wearing a Scottish kilt and speaking in German he relayed a chilling account of the torture of Arabic speaking Prisoners of War being held here. The details were provided to him by a brave soldier named Private First Class John Pierce who is a guard in the stockade and assigned to the 18th Military Police Brigade, US Army 5th Corps. Last month, PFC Pierce suddenly disappeared on the day he was scheduled to provide information about the torture to Amnesty International. As of today his whereabouts are still unknown. (Note: Following Wright’s speech: One of the local residents informed people at the rally that she and others in the neighborhood could often hear screams emanating from the prison, and how recently these sounds of obvious torture became so loud that they had to file a complaint with German police. An older man in the neighborhood angrily compared what the American government is doing today with what the Nazis did here in Germany during the past.)



Darnell Summers was the next to address the audience: Speaking in German he informed the crowd that not only were Prisoners of War being held here, but that anti war GIs were also confined in this army detention facility. He then read excerpts from Private First Class Kevin Hicks’ application to be discharged from the army as a conscientious objector. His powerful words describe how, after volunteering for the army and serving a one year tour of duty in the war where, he killed three Iraqis, he could never take another mans life. Hicks wanted no more part in America’s death machine.



Dave Blalock spoke last at the rally: Instead of facing the crowd he turned around and directed his words specifically to the GIs imprisoned in the stockade. He started off by telling them how both he and Darnel Summers had been confined to U.S. Military prisons in the late 60s—Blalock at the Fort Jackson stockade in the July of 1968 and Summers at the infamous Long Binh Jail in Vietnam shortly after the month-long prison uprising that occurred there in late August of 1968. Blalock also mentioned the prison uprising that had erupted here at this notoriously brutal Mannheim U.S. army stockade in March of 1970 when hundreds of GIs imprisoned here launched an uprising against oppressive conditions. Following the beating death of a fellow inmate by the guards, angry prisoners took control of the prison, setting fire to numerous buildings and causing much property damage. These rebels were eventually subdued only after local MPs were reinforced by 100 German policemen armed with dogs and fire hoses.





On February 27, 2007, Blalock and Summers did a 1/2 hour multi-media presentation titled Refuse…Resist…Rebel at an international project in Berlin called the Dictionary of War. (Photo below)

To view the video on-line go to:

http://dictionaryofwar.org/concepts/Resist-Refuse-Rebel





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May 2007, Ansbach, Germany: The Stop The War Brigade teamed up with members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and local peace activists to stage a series of antiwar actions aimed against the deployment of U.S. troops with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade to Iraq.

In the link below Blalock and Summers from the STWB briefly appear in a German TV broadcast of one of the Ansbach demos:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4880373881522946119





At another protest action this week in Ansbach, not televised, IVAW member Jeff Englehart addressed the troops during a blockade of the Storck army Barracks saying in part:



"They only know greed and death. They thrive off pain and suffering, and they won’t even bat an eye to the destruction at their hands. They don’t care about you. They are America’s ruling elite, and you are just another social security number.



"And ultimately, you will be just another name on another wall commemorating yet another war for profit and empire.



"Check this out, your Sergeant Major out here told us that if we, the Iraq Veterans Against the War, encouraged you all to desert or go AWOL from your obligations as soldiers in this illegal war, he would have us arrested.



"That’s what your chain of command is most afraid of.

"Without you, they have no war.  No more glory.  No more combat patches to go around. Ha!  Can you imagine what would happen if the whole Army didn’t show up for formation tomorrow?!



"But we are NOT here, at least officially, to encourage you all to desert from the army.

"Hell no!  On the contrary, we would rather see all of you organize from within, to put a block on your own death sentence, to bring this war machine down!

For full text of this speech see below:

This link is to an article/report written by IVAW member Jeff Englehart who took part in this Ansbach action. It was originally printed on 7-23-07 in GI Special 5G20 and posted on line at:  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=34809



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On March 20, 2008 Blalock and Summers represent the STWB at a 24 hour peace rally in front of the US Army Headquarters in Heidelberg.  This action was organized by a local anti war group to protest the 5th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.









On July 15, 2008 Blalock got past some police protecting various German military recruiting displays from 150 anti war protesters at the University Square in Heidelberg to present the soldier standing inside the back of a military ambulance with a copy of the film Sir No Sir!  Note: Hours before the start of the demonstration Blalock had spoken with this soldier and found out that he had just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and that after 8 years in the German Army he was ending his military career and refusing to re-enlist.  In the photo left Blalock is calling on the army officer standing to his right to “follow in the foot steps of GIs from Vietnam to this brave intelligent German soldier standing here in the ambulance — Refuse, Resist and Rebel against all unjust wars.”



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In early August 2008 Blalock and Summers from the STWB, Chris Capps who heads up IVAW Europe, along with some members of the Military Counseling Network, accepted an invitation from Sergeant Selena Coppa to attend a barbecue sponsored by active-duty GI members of Iraq Veterans Against the War at a US army base in Weisbaden, Germany. Note: Below is a link to a short trailer for a documentary film titled From Vietnam to Iraq produced by Iran's English language Press TV. It contains brief footage of Blalock on stage in the theatrical production of Wallenstein, part of interview with him on a train to the army base in Weisbaden, and part of interview with Sergeant Coppa. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=DE&hl=de&v=kB8zr0feIr0

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On January 10, 2009 Blalock represented the Stop the War Brigade in an antiwar action by a local peace group in Heidelberg, Germany to protest the US-backed Israeli slaughter of over 1,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza.







On March 21, 2009 Blalock participated in a mass protest march sponsored by local Heidelberg peace groups through the US Army housing area. On this 6th anniversary of the Iraq war He addressed the GIs at a rally in front of Campbell Barracks where he gave a fired-up speech attacking the lies and hypocrisy of the new US President Obama, America’s increased troop levels and civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the un-manned planes bombing Pakistan and the subtle threats of war against Iran.

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On April 4, 2009 Blalock took part in a contingent of 7,000 Germans that attempted to cross the border and join with 50,000 other demonstrators   already protesting against the Afghanistan War at an international NATO meeting in Strasburg, France. The bridge crossing the Rhine River into France was blocked in Kehl, Germany by hundreds of special riot police.

Unable to link up with his IVAW comrades in France who had been fighting-off attacks by the French police for several days, Blalock, along with Doctor Billee Manigault from the Military Counseling Network, distributed 1,000 copies of a brochure calling for support of an American army deserter named Andre Shepherd who is requesting political asylum in Germany rather then returning for a second tour of duty in Iraq.  (For more on Shepherd see: www.Connection-eV.de/en_action-usa.php ) (To read more about the anti NATO fighting that happened in France from the perspective of an IVAW leader who was there go to Face Book and check out the detailed account written in April 09 by Chris Capps.)

(Top photo: German Anti NATO protesters marching to border crossing in Kehl. Above photo: Protesters in Strasburg use Molotov cocktails to fight off a police attack.)

Links for Anti NATO protest action videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjjTa5dtULk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aSsA0i70z0&NR=1

CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKWuUCQw8no&NR=1

British sky news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ9jpNnYNjI&NR=1









On April 9, 2009 Blalock attended a special meeting in Heidelberg organized by a local peace group to hear a speech by IVAW member Matthis Chiroux. Along with describing his recent experiences at the anti NATO demo in France, Chiroux also spoke about how he was fighting an attempt by the Army to force him back into active duty status and return him to Iraq. (Note: Due to mass public support for Chiroux, several weeks later at a hearing in the US, the army was forced to give him a permanent discharge.)

 For an interview with Chiroux about his experiences in France and the war see:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-4 









On July 25, 2009 Blalock took part in mass march of 400 angry Iranians through Heidelberg’s Old Town to support their protest against the torture and executions being carried out by the reactionary regime running their home country.

Note: During this march Blalock met an older Iranian man who had taken part in the Iranian Student Association’s 1977 Washington, DC protest against the visit to the US by the Shaw of Iran. Blalock had also taken part in supporting that demo and they shared stories about how 5,000 Iranian students had successfully disrupted President Carter’s outdoor welcoming ceremony for the hated Shaw of Iran at the White House.







On August 27 – 29, 2009 Blalock represented the STWB at the annual Peace Festival in Strausburg, Germany. There he took part in an evening panel discussion where, along with using video clips from the documentary film Sir! No Sir!, he addressed the audience about the history and special role that veterans can play in influencing soldiers to bring an end to unjust wars.

Note: The vast majority of this 60-member audience was retired veterans of the old East German Army and was opposed to the present German government’s participation in the Afghanistan War. Blalock’s message was well received by them.

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On December 12, 2009 Blalock addressed a crowd of 150 demonstrators at a rally at the Old Bridge before their march through the streets of Heidelberg protesting against the possible execution of Mumia Abu Jamal, a US political prisoner, who is unjustly held on death row in a Pennsylvania prison.

(An English translation of banner reads: NO Execution! Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal”

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On January 30, 2010 Blalock took part in a protest march against police repression by 800 youth in Heidelberg. This action blocked traffic at the Bismarck Platz transportation hub. They then marched through the Old Town up the crowded Main Street to rally at University Square. From there they marched to the city's old prison where they rallied. They ended by marching down to the City Hall for a final rally. Despite the snow and an extremely large number of riot police this action was very well received by the local population and the prisoners inside the city jail.
(Photo above is from demonstration of 3,000 angry youth marching in Frankfurt on the same day.)







Appendix A-2.  Below is a copy of a 15 page hand-written report sent by Dave Blalock to VVAWAI national headquarters in Seattle, Washington. It covers his activities from August 91 to March 92.





March 18, 1992



To: VVAWAI Storm Warning editor

4710 University Way NE #1612

Seattle, WA.  98105



From: Dave Blalock

VVAWAI Houston

C/O Tiffis Flynn

P.O. Box 1164

Kemah, TX.  77565





Hi Randy,

    It took awhile, going through many ‘change-of-address’ forms at the post office, but I finally received your New Years Card in the middle of February. It’s great to hear from you!! I also got the bundle of Storm Warnings #21---It’s most definitely an excellent issue of the paper! As you can see by my return address on this envelope, I’m back in Germany again—returned on March first. But before I get into all the present day stuff let me respond to your card and fill you in about what’s been happening with me.



     Sorry I haven’t kept in better contact. According to my journal/log book the last report packet that I sent to you was by post from Houston back in mid-July 91. Enclosed in it was a transcription of a speech by Grant Dyer, a British army veteran who shared the stage with me at a large public meeting titled “VIETNAM TO IRAQ” in Oxford, Mississippi at the end of April. (Ron Ridenhour, the vet who exposed the My Lai Massacre, was also billed to speak with us but he got sick.) The other item in the packet was a transcription of a lengthy interview with a GI returning from the Gulf War that I did with him over here in Germany when I returned back in June. I also sent my GI interview to the R.W. who printed it in late July or early August. I don’t know if you did any thing with this stuff or even if you ever saw it—you have never commented on them to me. Perhaps you guys were too busy involved in countering all the so-called “Victory Parades” to welcome home the troops.



I had also kept an account of the Stop The War Brigade’s extensive activities in Germany during the Gulf War but this very long handwritten journal will take too much time to decipher right now. Below is a report of my activities from Aug. 91 to the present.



During the above time period my personal life was in great turmoil— matching that of the rest of the world. Upon my return from the very tense 3 month Stop The War Brigade campaign in Germany my wife asked for a separation because her heart was with another man. After over 10 years together this was a bit of a shock for me— but not too much— my heart was partially with another woman in Germany. I felt really bad though for my daughter Kerry because she didn’t take this too well—for a 7 year old it was hard for her to understand. But my X and I have so far maintained a relatively friendly relationship, both emotionally and politically, and I believe this has helped make the transition easier for Kerry.



Along with this personal break up, I think the biggest turmoil that happened for me when I came back to the US was because I didn’t have any real roots or a base to operate from in Houston. Being jobless meant that my financial situation was rapidly deteriorating as the money we made selling our N.J. house 2 years ago after the flag-burning protest was all used up. And our credit cards were all maxed-out paying for the daily necessities of life.



I helped my X and daughter move into a smaller cheaper apartment and I found myself an inexpensive one-room studio to live in. After a month of working on-and-off at day-labor jobs cleaning out abandoned houses or bagging groceries at a local supermarket for $4.75 per hour I found a job through Manpower Temporary job agency. They sent me to work the mid-night shift on the production lines in one of America’s most highly successful growth industries—  Kitty Litter!!!



For $7.50 an hour driving a fork lift I was part of the small elite group with the highest pay in a plant of 250 people. (Compared to $15.25 per hour that I formerly earned at Castrol Oil, this new job was a drastic pay cut for me!) Everyone else though was, more or less, happy to be working here for $4.50 per hour. Even some of the low-level line supervisors made only $6.50 an hour.



This Kitty Litter Company was real slick because the vast majority of their workforce was employed by three different Temporary job agencies which rented out and managed the slaves for their clients. At least 50% of the men working here were Spanish speaking — mostly Mexican along with some Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, Panamanians and I even met one man from Peru. The English speaking group was made up of 4o percent black, a couple of Iranians and the rest white. A good number of the whites came from northern cities like Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati where they previously held reasonably good paying jobs. Many of the local home boys, both black and white, were X-cons from the Texas prison system. One black guy I met here was actually on a “Job Training” release program where he busted his ass making Kitty Litter all week— then forced to return back to jail on the week-ends.



The Latinos that worked here were under constant fear of the Immigration Police. The first night that I started everyone had to arrive a half-hour early. People were all gathered in groups in a dimly lit parking lot while the various Temp Agency crew chiefs took role-call. Suddenly a helicopter appeared overhead and shined a spotlight down into the parking lot. Someone frantically yelled out “La Migra! La Migra!” (slang term for Immigration Police)and half the people went running off in different directions—some hid under tractor trailer trucks or railroad cars at the end of the building—others ran across the street into another factory parking lot. The chopper hovered for only a few minutes before leaving. It wasn’t an Immigration Police helicopter because I caught a glimpse of a H.P.D. (Houston Police Department) decal on the tail. Immediately one of the top bosses came out of the factory and I heard him laughingly tell my temp crew-chief that “I hope these spics learned a lesson from all this.” I don’t know whether this was a coordinated effort between the Company and the Houston PD or just a coincidence but this incident definitely gave the impression that this firm has some high-power connections.



    The conditions inside this place were, to say the least, HORRIBLE! It was a poorly-lit, unventilated, old warehouse that had been converted into a factory where different grades of silicon and powdered chemicals are machine-blended, filled into plastic jugs, and shipped out. The 2 ton nylon bags of silicon that arrive on pallets by truck or train have the required government OSHA warning labels: “Cancer Causing Agent!—No Unprotected or Prolonged Breathing!” After we off-loaded them a supervisor would go around and casually tear-off the warning labels. The cheap, flimsy masks they gave us provided little or no protection to the thick clouds of fine dust that fills the building so most workers wear bandannas or T shirts cross their faces to breathe through. A day or so after I started working here a young white guy began a wild chocking spasm and collapsed on the floor unable to breathe. An ambulance had to rush him to the hospital. I found out a week later from one of the foreman that the doctors had to cut his chest open and scrape the silicon out of his lungs—he had worked here for only 6 months but he’ll now be physically screwed-up for the rest of his life and the Company was afraid he was gonna sue them.



    Working at this place was a real fucking trip—like a scene from an Indiana Jones’ “Temple of Doom” movie with all the slaves working in a dark tunnel. The dust on my new job was such a heavy fog that it dimmed out the overhead florescent bulbs throughout most of the factory and the top boss ordered all of us forklift operators to drive with our headlight and flashing lights on so that no one would accidentally step in front of us. Yes, sure, like he really cared!! —why didn’t the company install an exhaust system to expel all this poisonous air from the building?  Perhaps their all-mighty God of Profit forbids it!



It was clear right from the beginning that this company didn’t really give a damn about us workers. To start off, there were no locker rooms or bathrooms except a small one for the supervisors. Instead they had portable toilets, like the ones used at out-door construction sites, dispersed throughout the building located near various work areas so that the supervisors can keep close tabs on their crew. If the boss was a complete asshole and thought that someone was taking too long to relieve himself, he’d start shaking the plastic portable toilet and when the worker came out he’d fire him—just to strike fear into the hearts of the others. On the extremely hot, humid, rainy, summer Houston nights the stench of human excrement from the portable toilets would leach onto the thick dusty air and spread throughout the building. This in turn leached onto our sweaty skin and clothes—and we had absolutely no place to even wash our hands.



Along with this they didn’t even provide us with a room to eat lunch. Instead we had to sit out on the concrete loading dock to enjoy our 3 AM half-hour lunch break. Unlike most industrial areas up North, no lunch truck would arrive here to sell pre-packaged sandwiches and soft drinks. Instead, Volunteers from two local churches would show up nightly. From the trunks of their cars they would offer us, along with the blessings from god, a fresh hot serving of Mexican or southern black Soul food—a large plastic-plate-full cost only $1.00. Many of the new temps couldn’t pay this but the churches fed them anyway with their signature on a list promising to pay after receiving their first pay check.



     I could go on and on about the working conditions in this place, but this correspondence with you are intended to be a report not a book. One more point though before I close out this section—there was a large percentage of the workers here who are war veterans. Most of the older guys like my self were Vietnam vets. The rest were veterans of every US invasion following Vietnam:

__ I talked with a white guy here who had been stationed in Beirut in the early 80s when the Marine barracks was bombed. He was on duty at that time and avoided the deadly fate of his friends. During my brief conversation with him about this experience he surprisingly DID NOT come to any Anti Arab or Anti Muslim assessments of this event. Instead he came to the simple conclusion: “Fuck the Politicians— they are the ones responsible!! We shouldn’t have been sent there in the first place.”



__ I met several men here who had been in the army during the US invasion of Granada back in the 80s. One of them spoke to me at length one day during lunch about this experience. At the end he summed it all up as “just playing silly war games” But, in the course of our conversation, he had proudly boasted to me about how the Puerto Rican GIs in his army unit openly vowed never to shoot anyone in Grenada and how he and all the other blacks along with many of the white GIs felt the same way. These men were never put to test on their beliefs because their infantry unit never actually engaged in any combat in Grenada. He said that while all the other units in his Battalion were engaged in some heavy fighting against 100 lightly armed Cuban construction workers who were expanding Grenada’s airport runways to handle commercial tourist planes—his unit was assigned to evacuate US students from a private university. He explained that their biggest problem was forcing the students to leave because most didn’t want to go. 



__ I came across a couple of black army veterans who had taken part in the 1989/90 invasion of Panama, but I never had a chance to really talk with these guys. One day I overheard them speaking with a group of black workers on the loading dock during lunch: One of the vets described how US war planes had bombed the ghetto housing in a poor section of Panama City and how he and his comrades had to drag 100s of dead human carcasses from their bombed out homes and throw them into mass graves. The other vet must have been a Black Muslim or something because he kept loudly interjecting that “the invasion of Panama was a sick and cruel action perpetrated under the orders from a White Devil!!”  



__ I’m not sure how many of the Latinos were veterans. Because of the language problem and especially because of their fear of “La Migra” it was hard to get close to them. One day, during a brief line-breakdown, I spoke with a man from Guatemala who I dropped palettes of bottle caps to his section of the line. I somehow managed to let it be known to him that I was a Vietnam vet and that I hated the War and what US Imperialism does to the world’s people. This sort of broke the ice between us and he immediately opened up. Between my unpoquito Espanol and his little bit of English I discovered that he was a deserter from the Guatemalan army. He told me that his army unit worked with a team of Spanish speaking US Special Forces on counter insurgency operations in the mountains and that he ran away because he didn’t like taking part in all of the killing.

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In the middle of October the Kitty Liter Company announced a temporary shut down till the beginning of December. I had been in contact with various friends in Germany. A Polish man, who had a sub-contracting business installing interior doors at a large new housing construction site near Mannheim, offered me a temporary month-long job paying $100 a day off-the-books. This was too good to pass up! So I packed my bags, bought a round-trip plane ticket, and headed back to Germany.



     As usual, nothing went as planned. The temporary work permit that I had applied for at the German Consulate in Houston never made it through the bureaucratic channels back to their Father Land. So I ended up over here working ‘illegal’ or, as it is called over here, “Schwarz Arbeit” (Black Work”).



    To say the least, this was most definitely an interesting eye-opening experience: Just like in the USA, the German government has its own version of the I.N.S. with its entangling regulations and its own special police to raid job sites and enforce the law. Along with the official state repression there was a very conscious political campaign by the fascists to whip up hatred and fear against the Auslanders (Foreigners). With daily news accounts of gangs of Nazi skin-heads attacking foreigners in various cities, this campaign of hate and violence was reaching its peak when I arrived here.



This whole negative political climate had an understandably intimidating effect on my Polish boss who was also a foreigner. Even though he spoke very little English and I spoke even less German and no Polish—we got along well together. My work performance was good but he limited my days of work to times when no one else would be present in our building on the job site. One day, a week after starting work, the police raided a job site two buildings down from ours. My boss acted like he was not frightened by this but the next day he announced that I couldn’t work for him anymore because the general contractor had gone bankrupt and he couldn’t continue paying me. I don’t know whether this was true or not, but it left me with only several hundred dollars instead of the several thousand that I was planning for.

                                                   

Most of the leftwing movement here was in high-gear with almost daily mass meetings and large militant demonstrations to counter the reactionary, anti foreigner shit that was going on. November 9th was the 53rd anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) when the Nazis had violently attacked the Jews in their homes and shops across Germany. The present day neo-Nazi movement announced their intentions to celebrate this day with their own mass attacks against the foreigners.



Note: In Worms, Germany, Darnell Summers and I represented the VVAWAI German Chapter in the large night time marches, mass rallies and some of the well organized “Peoples Protection Patrols” which monitored the foreigner’s neighborhoods. These actions were very effective in politically isolating and preventing the fascists from openly conducting any of their hateful celebrations or violent assaults on foreigners —at least in our region of the country.



During this month-long stay in Germany I also managed a 4 day visit with another STWB member to Berlin. There we took part in an intense night time march of nearly 1,000 people organized by local Turkish and Kurdish youth groups, Anarchists, and Maoists to protest against the wave of fascist attacks on foreigners. The march quickly turned into a series of hit and run skirmishes with the highly mobile counter-insurgency police units that occupied this section of Berlin and were providing protection for the Nazis. After several hours of fighting, the police more or less retreated and the small group of fascists fled the area. The demonstrators then dispersed to different bars to exchange war stories.



We also spent a day traveling into the old East Berlin. When you cross through the wall from the west to the east it was like going back in time with the crumbling poorly-paved streets lined by old unkempt buildings. (In many ways the deteriorating conditions here reminded me of Pittsburgh and Johnstown after the Steel mills shut down in the early 80s.) Because of the lack of residential telephone service here in the east, everywhere we went people were lined-up at public telephone booths to make a phone call. In the course of our travels we came across a demonstration of several hundred people protesting against the planned demolition of a large Lenin statue. This crowd of protestors appeared to be older Communist Party bureaucrats wearing coats & Ties accompanied by their well dressed wives. The spirit of this group was more like they were at a funeral wake than at a serious protest and it was clear to me that Lenin would definitely not remain standing here for too long. On the other hand a statue commissioned by Stalin located in a war memorial park also here in East Berlin won’t come down easily. Not so much because of political opposition to its destruction, but because of its humongous size. It’s a 5 story high, solid stone statue of a Soviet soldier and dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who gave their lives to free the Germans from Nazi rule. A Kurdish STWB sympathizer who was traveling with us on this day commented, “If Berlin is ever nuked, the statue of a Red Army soldier will be the only thing left standing here.”



In closing out this section of my report I want to say that while over here this time, I also ran into a lot of the hard-core anti war activists who had worked closely with us during  VVAW(AI)’s  Gulf War Campaign. Please forward a message to Brian Chambers, that I along with, Peter, Darnell, Jute, Sam, MC Treason, Junior, Christa and some members of the German Army Reserves that worked closely with the STWB, along with many other Germans, ALL SEND OUR Hellos’!!!  Also, before I forget, Miriam from Berlin sends her warmest regards to Brian!



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      I had returned back to the US right after Thanksgiving and started working again at the Kitty Litter factory at the beginning of December. It was really great to see my daughter Kerry again, but it was kind of depressive coming back to work at this place. Many of the guys that I had gotten to know a little bit my first time here were no longer around. My natural instinct to try to organize some kind of resistance against the oppressive conditions here were somewhat stifled.



Because of the temporary situation of this job some people were here for only a day—some for a week—some for a month or two. I even met one older man who worked as temp here for nearly 2 years. Many of these people have no permanent address: Sometimes a group of 4(2 on the day shift and 2 on the night shift) would pool their money and rent a cheep motel room for a week at a time. Everyone knew where the best homeless shelters were located but this didn’t help any of the night shift guys who got off work at 7:30 AM—the time the shelters were kicking everyone out. There were between 25 to 30 night shift temps, mostly Latinos and a few whites, who lived in 2 abandoned freight cars on a nearby railroad siding. My Guatemalan friend also lived there and one morning after work he invited me over for a visit.

I was truly amazed at what I found!



Somehow these guys had managed to rip-off quit a few of the large empty nylon sacks that had contained the Kitty Liter silicon. Some were cut up and hung from the ceiling as dividers to provide individual living spaces — others were folded up and used as mattresses. With water carried over in plastic Kitty Litter jugs from a water faucet located behind a factory near ours, along with an old mop and broom, this Homeless Hotel maintained a relatively neat and clean appearance. The photos of loved ones, along with posters of various Latin musicians, Led Zeppelin, and even one of Che Guevara were hanging on the walls providing a touch of humanity. They kept the batteries for their flash light lanterns charged up at the same place their water came from. I asked him where they took their showers and he explained that the priest at a nearby Catholic Church ran a community center that provided free meals and a place to shower for the homeless. But since they were employed they had to make a small donation or do a little work for the center. They also washed their clothes at a self-service laundry next to the center.



     I didn’t run into any Gulf War veterans here until the end of January when I met several—2 blacks and 2 whites. Following their discharges from the military after the Gulf War they collected Unemployment Benefits for 6 months. With that now expired they’re forced to work here in order to survive. Both of the black vets didn’t have too much to say about the Gulf War except that they thought it was wrong and glad to be out of army. One of the white vets basically refused to talk about the war except to say that he thought it was horrible and that he wanted to forget it all. The other white guy was a bit different. He let it be known, to all willing to listen, that he was proud to have fought in the war. He was always going around showing people the shrapnel wound scars on his leg and continuously bragging that “We kicked the Iraqi’s ass!”

 

 I, along with most others, tended to just roll our eyes and ignore his blather. But one night during lunch this bragger was quickly shut up when a black Vietnam vet jumped all in his case saying, “Hey Boy, it sounds to me like you’ve been marching in too many Victory Parades. Being a fool for the Man doesn’t impress too many of us working here!” The gung-ho bragger didn’t say anything and neither did any of the small crowd that had gathered around listening. So the black vet continued by saying, “Most of us here have been fools at one time or another in our lives. But you should just take a look around and check out your reality. This shit job is the MAN’s way of paying you back for all the killing you did for him and the injury you received doing it— that ain’t nothing to be proud of!!!” A few in the crowd yelled out “Right On” and some murmured “Amen” but any further dialog was rudely interrupted when a supervisor stepped in. Pointing to his watch he screamed out, “What the Fuck is going on here?!! Lunch ended 1 minute ago. If you don’t wanna work, then go home and don’t bother coming back.”



    How do I assess the political situation here? It’s kind of hard to say. The overwhelming majority of the vets and others who worked here opposed the Gulf War. But with the war long over most people are now caught up in the vicious struggle of day to day survival. Along with their sentiments being expressed vocally some have also shown their feelings through graffiti. The following poem or I should say epitaph was collectively written on the inside of the door to one of the portable plastic toilets. It began appearing during the second week of February and, over the next week or so, several different people added sections to it and signed it. Below is how it appeared towards the end of February, on my last day working here, when I copied it:



I was a temporary soldier

Fighting for a temporary cause

To temporarily control

Some temporary sand

Soaked with blood Temporarily

For the temporary oil

Of a temporary foreign land  

—Sgt Ben— US Army “Highway of Death” Kuwait 91





Now I’ve temporarily returned

To a less then temporary home

With no temporary place

To temporarily call my own

Hey Ben I was there on “body bagging” detail—Pvt. Joj0





From one temporary prison to another

I’ve became a Temporary full-time ‘Temporary’

Working as a temporary slave

With other Black Brown and white Temporaries

On a temporary job

For less then temporary pay

—Houston Homey— US Army Panama City 89-90





We make a temporary toilet

From temporary sand

So that temporary rich folk’s cats

Can have a clean temporary place

To take a temporary shit

Mean n Ugly— vet of 67 Detroit Riots





Cats ass Rats ass dirty cunt twat

69 douche bags tied in a knot

Cock suck mother fuck dick lick too

I’m a Temp making kitty litter

Who the fuck is you?

The Sniper— Proud— Hard-core vet Newark NJ Uprising 67





Many temporary Hurrahs to George Bush

And his temporary New World Order

With its less-than-temporary

Third Reich Odor

‘The Black Professor’ USMC Vietnam 68-69



    With black felt tipped pens, a pencil, and a ball-point pen and even etched into the plastic door with a knife, these guys have made a serious commentary on the present conditions confronting a growing section of American workers today. I wonder what’s been added to this since I left this place. I am quite sure that the tightly controlled mainstream press and media will never permit these kinds of sentiments to appear in public.  If I ever end up working back here again I’m going to smuggle in a small camera and photograph this epitaph to the “1990s America—The Great Land of Freedom and Prosperity for All.”

_____ ____________ ____________________________________________ ___



    I was informed during the third week of February that the company was laying off the night shift crew for two months. I hadn’t worked enough consecutive days to Qualify for Texas unemployment money so I made a few calls to German friends; visited the German Consulate for a work permit; bought an extra cheep winter priced  plane ticket and headed back to Germany.



I’ve been mainly sitting around here for the past 2 weeks waiting for my work permit and for the winter weather to break before beginning a job building a large natural stone terrace. The promised pay is equivalent to $12.00 per hour—the German minimum wage.



Let me close out before I boor you to death with any more mundane details. You can contact me by post c/o Stop The War Brigade, Gaustrasse 36, 67547 Worms, Germany. The fax machine here is all fucked up so I’m sending this report to you by post. PLEASE drop me a line to let me know if you have received it!!!!! My return ticket is for the end of May.



Yours in the struggle,

Dave