Library - Reading Room
Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Dix GIs Ask To Distribute Bill Of Rights On Post.
In an attempt to stop the distribution of antiwar literature, the brass at Fort Dix last December issued a post regulation which prohibits the distribution of any literature “without the prior approval of the Adjutant General.” On June 11, a group of GIs decided to take the brass at their word by handing in a written request for permission to distribute the Bill of Rights on post.
The request was signed by eleven GIs, four of them veterans of combat in Vietnam. The leaflet they want to distribute contains the Bill of Rights and the notice that it was “reprinted as a public service by the Ultimate Weapon.” The Ultimate Weapon is an antiwar paper published by GIs stationed at Fort Dix.This move put the brass uptight. Clearly, they couldn't allow the distribution of such a subversive document, but on the other hand they didn't want the news media to get a hold of the fact that they consider the Bill of Rights dangerous. So they responded by trying to intimidate the eleven GIs.
Several of the GIs were called in to G-2 and told that the others had signed a statement that their signature to the request had been forged by Sp/5 Ken Willis. The brass apparently picked Willis for their fairy tale because his picture had appeared in a Life magazine article about the GI antiwar movement. All of the GIs refused to fall for G-2's lies; they assured their questioner that they had in fact signed the request.Willis then was told that he would be court-martialed for “being AWOL” unless he agreed to stop his antiwar activities. The AWOL charge was allegedly based on Ken's participation in an antiwar march in Philadelphia on Memorial Day. (He had a pass.) This little trick didn't work either, because Willis had not been listed as AWOL on his company's morning report.
The Adjutant General has not yet replied to the request. He's in no hurry because he knows that whatever his answer is, the brass are going to lose.
GI Press Service, vol. 1, no. 1