http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Against_the_WarVietnam Veterans Against the War
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans. It publishes a twice-yearly newsletter The Veteran, previously published more frequently as 1st Casualty (1971–1972) and then as Winter Soldier (1973–1975). VVAW considers itself as "anti-war," although not in the pacifistic sense. Membership varied greatly, from almost 25,000 veterans during the height of the war to fewer than a couple thousand in subsequent decades. While the member veterans were a small fraction of the millions that served between 1965–75, the VVAW is widely considered to be among the most influential anti-war organizations of that era.
History
VVAW was founded by six Vietnam war veterans, including Jan "Barry" Crumb, Mark Donnelly, and David Braum, in New York City in June, 1967 after they marched together in the April 15, 1967 Spring Mobilization to End the War anti-war demonstration with over 400,000 other protesters. After talking to members of the Veterans for Peace group at that march, Barry discovered there was no organization representing Vietnam veterans.
The VVAW's website summarizes its history, in part indicating that:
“ Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc. (VVAW) is a national veterans' organization that was founded in New York City in 1967 after six Vietnam vets marched together in a peace demonstration. It was organized to voice the growing opposition among returning servicemen and women to the still-raging war in Indochina... ”
The fluctuating membership size of this organization has been a point of some confusion, with some sources claiming it peaked at over 20,000 and others claiming it never exceeded several thousand. Several historic events would serve to fuel the organization's rapid growth as well as its decline in membership. The organization remained small until late 1969 when it gained several hundred new members. With the Nixon administration's decision to invade Cambodia and the Kent State shootings in 1970, VVAW's visibility increased, as did their membership, from 1,500 to almost 5000. Publicity from VVAW-sponsored events continued to spur membership growth past 8,500 by the first month of 1971, and thousands more flocked to the organization after Playboy Magazine donated a full-page VVAW ad in its February edition. An FBI informant within the organization notes in March, 1971 that membership had grown from 1,500 to over 12,000 in the past four months. The national televised coverage of VVAW's week-long April, 1971 protest in Washington, DC, and smaller protests in subsequent months continued to increase their notoriety. By 1971, the group had grown to 20,000 members. The organization itself claims a peak membership of over 30,000. Including non-veterans, VVAW had "roughly 50,000" members. By 1972, negotiations at the Paris peace talks were in full swing, signaling the beginning of the end of the war as well as the end of VVAW's primary mission. Membership in the organization diminished as the leadership organised to broaden its purpose. Membership requirements were relaxed, and political differences arose as new members fought with old about which direction the VVAW should take. The organization had dwindled to just several thousand members by 1973. With internal struggle still threatening to tear the group apart, 2,000 members demonstrated in Washington DC in July 1974, demanding universal amnesty for draft resisters and deserters, and universal discharge with benefits for all Vietnam veterans.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_InvestigationWinter Soldier Investigation
The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit, Michigan. Discharged servicemen from each branch of military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963–1970.
With the exception of Pacifica Radio, the event was not covered extensively outside Detroit. However, several journalists and a film crew recorded the event, and a documentary film called Winter Soldier was released in 1972. A complete transcript was later entered into the Congressional Record by Senator Mark Hatfield, and discussed in the Fulbright Hearings in April and May 1971, convened by Senator J. William Fulbright, chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Background
Prompted by numerous investigations into war crimes such as the Russell Tribunal, National Veterans Inquiry and Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI), the Vietnam Veterans Against the War wanted to have a large scale public hearing. With the courts martial for the My Lai Massacre making front page news, and the recent disclosure by members of the Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program of its record of human rights violations in Vietnam, the VVAW was determined to expose a broad pattern of war crimes in Vietnam. The Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) was intended to prove that massacres like the My Lai massacre were not isolated and rare occurrences, but were instead the frequent and predictable result of official American war policy.
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John Kerry Testimony: On Winter Soldier and VVAW - Vietnam War Hearing Part 1 (1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8Wyp09YOI-------------------------------------------------------------
And I predict that it will be a group similar to this one who is eventually responsible for ending the current wars we are involved in.
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