USMC 1958-66. USMCR 1966-78. Third MarDiv, Second MarDiv, Company Commander Co. D, MarSptBn. Peace activist since 1967 Threatened with Court Martial for anti-Vietnam war activities. Founder, Santa Fe Chapter of VFP.

Secretary:
Gary May

Gary joined the USMC and served from 1968 to 1969. He was trained as a mechanic but was re-shuffled to 0311 Infantry in the confusion following the wake of the Tet Offensive. He arrived in Vietnam on February 17, 1968 and stepped on a mine on April 12, 1968. Gary suffered a bilateral above-the-knee amputation and was medi-vac'd out through DaNang, Guam, Philippines to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Gary's older brother was in the Vietnam-era Army; Gary's intuition is that he was spared because of Gary's wounds. Gary entered college in March of 1969 at the University of Evansville where he earned a BA in Sociology in 1972. After earning a MS in Social Work at the University of Tennessee Gary worked in the VA for 10 years. He then worked in the Vets Center program where he was exposed to Peace Corps veterans and other social justice activists and grew in political consciousness. Gary next went into private clinical social work, specializing in counseling and adoption placement. Gary became the Director of Veterans' Affairs for the State of Indiana in 1989 and served for one year. His next assignment was as the Director of Vocational Rehabilitation for the State of Indiana for one year. He then became the Director of Outpatient services for Charter Hospital. In 1992 Gary became an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at Evansville, Indiana, where he still serves. Finally, Gary was a Co-founder of VFP Chapter 104 Evansville, IN. Gary coordinated and organized the workshops for the 2007 Veterans For Peace Convention in St. Louis, MO.

Thomas has been an activist for peace with justice since he returned from his year's service in Vietnam in 1967-68, flying into Washington, DC's National Airport, early in the evening of April 4th, being baffled as to why Washington was burning in the aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination. Before going to Vietnam as an ROTC-commission Lieutenant, Thomas had grave reservations about the illegal, immoral, inhumane war of his generation and organized Teach-ins, one keynoted by SNCC founder and Georgia legislator, Julian Bond, at his alma mater of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In recent years, Thomas spent two years in Sri Lanka as a peace worker with Nonviolent Peaceforce. In recent months, Thomas spearheaded the New York City events for the VFP "Putting the War On Trial" tour, hosting their visit to the parents of Lt. Ehren Watada to the East Coast. He has also traveled with Cindy Sheehan, lending his seasoned, mature voice to her recent tour. Thomas is a founder and member of Chapter 138 of VFP (Long Island).

Service:
U.S. Army, 1^st Lt., 1959-62, Germany (Very early opponent of the Vietnam War and, upon discharge, banned from the base for life.)

VFP-Related Activities:
Member of delegations to Colombia and El Salvador and marcher in various parades under VFP banner. Former chairman of Fairfield County Citizens for Peace operated under VFP’s non-profit status. Protester at SOA. Bill served two terms in the Connecticut General Assembly and four terms as mayor of Norwalk. He is currently pressing the public relations initiative to gain more national publicity for VFP.

Board Member:
Mike Ferner

Mike Ferner is the author of "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq," (Praeger/Greenwood, 2006) based on his trips to that country just prior to, and a year after, the U.S. invasion. His news and commentary articles have appeared in daily newspapers and numerous internet sites. He has been arrested several times for nonviolently protesting the Iraq war, served on Toledo City Council and worked as a union organizer. A Navy Corpsman from 69-73, he was discharged as a conscientious objector and has been a VFP member since 1985. www.mikeferner.org

I was active duty Army as a Chinese-language interrogator from 1998-2002, and was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector. Among other activities, I am the past Chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War's (IVAW) interim Board of Directors and will continue working to reinforce IVAW members' bonds with VFP. Professionally, I am the Assistant Director of the University of Minnesota Law School's Alumni Relations and Annual Giving Office.

Service: USAF 1970-1972.
Patrick McCann has been a member of VFP these past 3 years, and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) for the last 30 years.
Patrick's VFP involvement includes:
•VFP Chapter 032 (Miami/South Florida) President 2004-5
•VFP Maryland-DC Contact, 2003-4
•Workshop Organizer (Chapter-Building) at Dallas convention
•Organized 4 tours of IVAW vets in S. Florida during 2005

I retired as a Sergeant First Class in the Army, I served 22yrs with my last tour being in Iraq. I am a mother of two veterans and a grandmother of 8 and I am from the Yaqui Nation in Tucson Ariz. I am the vice president for the American Indian Veterans Association Inter-Tribal in Fresno California, and also serve on the board for Veterans Village. I am a co-founder of the Service Women Action Network (SWAN) and currently I am also working on a peace action callled turtlewomenrising.

• Commanded combat intelligence team in Vietnam with 11th Infantry:
• Joined VVAW in 1969.
• Testified at International War Crimes Enquiry in Stockholm
• Co-founded Citizen Soldier in New York, Vet/GI advocacy
• Co-authored G.I. Guinea Pigs, an expose on health effects of Agent Orange and atomic testing
• Charter member Veterans For Peace.
• Writer, articles appearing often in the Nation and Boston Globe.
• University lecturer and carpenter.
• Ph.D. American Studies
• Volunteer editor of VFP’s national newsletter.
• Author of Vietnam Awakening: My Journey from Combat to the Citizen's Commission of Inquirty on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam (available June 2007).

www.veteran.scholar.com