Veterans For Peace members will participate in a wide range of activities in cities and towns all across the nation to observe Memorial Day. Veterans For Peace is a group of military veterans, family members and friends who pledge to serve the cause of world peace and work to abolish war.
“We bring a different message to Memorial Day than what is usually promoted by the media, the government and the war-hawks,” stated Michael McPhearson, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace.
“We don’t glorify war – we seek justice for veterans and victims of war, and we work to abolish war itself,” said McPhearson.
Veterans For Peace members around the country will march in parades, lay wreaths, give talks and speeches, recite poetry, and honor U.S. service members and civilians who died in or as a result of war.
In Washington, D.C., Veterans For Peace members and friends will gather at the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial at 10:30 am to deliver approximately 150 letters written to soldiers whose names appear on The Wall. The letters are from people of different generations and political persuasions from all around the country, and were solicited by the Vietnam Full Disclosure Campaign.
“Many of the letters are written by military veterans; some are written by anti-war veterans; a few are written by children of Vietnam War veterans; and some come from family members of veterans,” said Doug Rawlings, a Vietnam War veteran and one of the organizers of the event.
“Nearly every one of the letters speak of remorse over the war -- from soldiers who regret they were part of the war to peace activists who regret that they couldn’t stop the war sooner,” said Vietnam veteran Doug Rawlings. “We believe that this somber placement of letters to those Americans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War will help bring some closure and solace to those who survived it.”
Not all members of Veterans For Peace will be present in public events honoring veterans, because the events tend to be a platform to venerate old wars and promote new wars. However a significant number of members choose to participate and provide a counter narrative of war. They seek to honor the dead by telling the horrible truth about war in an effort to protect the living.
“Our message for Memorial Day is to remember all who have died in war and to understand that no one wins,” said Veterans For Peace Executive Director Michael McPhearson.
“There are some people who profit from war, mainly those who invest in the defense industry or possibly the oil sector,” McPhearson went on to say, himself a Gulf War veteran. “But the veterans and civilians who survive war suffer for the rest of their lives. And the entire society is robbed of billions of tax dollars which could be spent on jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure and sustainable energy.”
Veterans For Peace has chapters in over 100 U.S. cities. Its members include veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War and other U.S. interventions around the globe.
For more information, call 314-725-6005, or visit our website at www.veteransforpeace.org.