On Wednesday, February 19, the tour left Southern California and drove to San Jose, on the south end of San Francisco Bay. The San Jose stop was organized by members of San Jose Veterans For Peace and held at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. A young man from Taiwan who is studying at San Jose State University started off the program with several songs from the late, great folksinger, Phil Ochs, including “I Ain't Marching Anymore.” Doug Nelson opened the program with a short presentation of his book, “Making Peace With Military Post-Traumatic Stress” and then presented copies to the GI Coffee House Tour.
Gerry Condon shared a very brief history of GI resistance during the Vietnam War, noting that low morale and active resistance among enlisted personnel brought the US Army to a state of near collapse, forcing the US withdrawal of ground troops from Vietnam. Alex Bacon, Malachi Muncy and Meike Capps-Schubert told compelling stories of how they came to play leading roles in the GI coffeehouse movement of today.
About 30 people attended, including several GI hotline volunteers from Santa Cruz. Members of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild attended and stopped in before the event.
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