Dear Mr. Magruder,
I have not only read all of the materials you were so kind to forward, I have posted them within a special forum created for a club, which has an internet site, to which USMC combat veterans belong.
Membership to that club is restricted to ONLY those Marines and FMF Corpsmen who have been in combat.
There has been a furor over a post originally made of your actions leading Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform just a few days ago within the club website. Nearly all of the members believe in doing something about these radical protesters and the rebirth of this type of movement. There is tremendous anger and a feeling among them of violation as a result of these leftist radicals "using" both physical monuments to veterans and their own interpretations of what deceased veterans would [protest] the current administration doing in it's anti-terrorist actions.
The membership is aware there will be a march/rally/protest in Washington, D.C., 1/18-1/19/03 I believe. It is the desire of most of the membership to engage these leftists for two reasons; to attempt to demonstrate to the public and to the media that Vietnam Veterans are nearly unanimous in their support of bringing terrorists, threatening anti-American Dictatorial regimes, and extremist muslim states to their knees, and if necessary, eliminated. They believe our active duty military should have their actions and honor validated publicly, unlike the ignominious and utter failures at home to protect their own actions and honor when they were in Vietnam. Secondly, they are adament to not allow these leftists to defile, rally around, misrepresent, or dishonor in any way physical military monuments they consider sacred, such as The Wall, the Iwo Jima Memorial [now known as the United States Marines War Memorial], Arlington National Cemetery, etc., they would use for their own agenda. These men also resent the radicals' use of their dead comrades, speaking "through" them as though they would be against current anti-terrorist actions.
I am attempting to be the fulcrum of logistical efforts to make a substantial and sufficient presence in Washington to accomplish the veteran's objectives above. Time is very short, of course, and I do not know how successful we can be to get this sufficient turnout there. The radicals have a jump on us, obviously. Unless the actions of the United States is totally devistating, I would expect other actions by the leftists after January.
What groups, numbers, organizations, et al are you aware of that are planning to be there in January, and do you know the exact route and itinerary of the radical movement?
Any information you may tip me would be most appreciated.
Respectfully,
Joel Charles Kernodle
Dear Mr. Kernodle:
I am in receipt of, and strongly agree with, your comments regarding proposed action at the Wall. First, a short review to make sure you have all the facts from this end. The statement that people shouted from the wall "If these men were here today they would be with us" came from William Street of Hawaii, Vietnam vet and member of my Board of Advisors. I went over his report carefully with him and am satisfied that he did see this on C-Span.
I myself did not get to see the C-Span coverage. Deciding that VVAR should comment on this I first checked with three other Advisors, all Vietnam vets. They said ok, but one, Roger Young, Co-Editor of Northwest Veterans Newsletter, while he said, "Those using the Wall for anti-war demonstrations are despicable and certainly cannot speak for our fallen comrades as you pointed out" also said. "However, any demonstration, pro or con, at the Wall, is upsetting to many Vietnam vets." So I decided to proceed cautiously, say nothing in the name of VVAR, simply made a statement as a personal opinion as would not presume to speak for any vets. Not being a Vietnam vet, only a friend of vets who has fought a few battles alongside them here on the homefront. So I put it, "I would like to see." (Just sent you a copy of my documentary and will send a copy of my monograph "The War on the Home Front.")
But your views go beyond whether this actually happened at the Wall or not, one issue you mention is "the radical protestors and the rebirth of this kind of type of movement." You mention two good reason to speak out 1) demonstrate to the public and the media that Vietnam vets are nearly unanimous in their support of bringing terrorists, threatening anti-American dictatorial regimes, and extremist Muslim states to their knees, or eliminated, and 2) having our active duty military have their actions and honor validated publicly , something that was missing in the 60's, another good reason. And then if their presence stops any efforts to use monuments to further agendas hostile to the interests of the US, thats another good reason.
The project you propose would be a very big shock to the protestors, who think they thay cannot be challanged, and a big boost to the national morale.
So even if Mr. Street got it wrong, and I spoke out too hastily, the situation as you and your people see it transcends all that and I think you have a great idea here and would like to help in any way I can.
I have a pretty good sized distribution list of indiviual vets and vet organizations, and could send out a press release talking about what you would like to do and people could contact you. But I'll check with you on this first. Even if this doesn't come off at this time it would send shivers through the anti-war movement as it could happen next time.
I have little information on groups, numbers, organizations, itineray at this time but do have something on one large group, Boston Mobilization I'll send you and am sure more will turn up on the web shortly. I'll be sure to pass on any information to you. Tomorrow I'll send you the phone numbers of 3 of my most knowledgeable advisors, including our Hawaii man, should you care to contact them about this.Am all for Vietnam vets speaking out on the current issues. As I say in my film, they are now the natural leaders of America. I'll send you another example of that.
Sincerely,
Leonard Magruder
President
Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform
Magruder44@aol.com