Terry Given 3 Yrs, Says, 'We're Going To WIN, Baby!'

The January '69 BOND reported that PFC Terry Kiug, an ASU member and organizer, had returned to the States from Europe, where he was in AWOL status from June 26, 1967. The BOND reported that Terry had left his unit at Fort Bragg, N.C. on that date and after a year of antiwar activity in Europe had given himself over to the military at JFK Airport on January 18.

"I decided to come back and give myself up," Terry said "because I thought I could be more effective in the resistance back here in the States -- even if it meant risking jail."

Terry was on the editorial staff of ACT, the newsletter of Resisters Inside the Army (RITA). Last August, while still in Paris, Terry joined the ASU.

Since that first report, the Union has followed closely every attempt by the Brass to intimidate Terry. He was confined at the Fort Dix Stockade and charged with two counts of desertion. Several letters written by prisoners were smuggled out of the stockade and published in the BOND.

Terry spent six weeks of his three-month pre-trial confinement in solitary confinement and was interrogated regularly by special Military Intelligence agents. But Terry is a GI leader and stays strong.

Terry Kiug's court-martial began on April 20. His civilian defense counselors, Jerry Moscowitz and Roland Watts of the Workers Defense League were retained by the ASU.

Two counts of desertion against Terry were: intent to remain away permanently and intent to shirk important duty. (Terry's unit was attached to Military Intelligence and was said to be heading to Vietnam.)

But the active-duty Union GIs who watched the General Court building from the snack-bar across the street knew that Terry was a political prisoner and regardless of the charges against him he was there because of his anti-Brass, anti-war stand.

The Office of the Adjutant General chose two full-bird colonels, one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, two captains, a first lieutenant, and a second lieutenant to sit in judgment of Terry.

Terry commented to me during a recess in the trial, "This isn't a jury of my peers; It's a jury of my enemies."

One of the jurors was challenged by the defense and dismissed -- Major Dorothy Gullard, a WAC officer known among JAG officers as "hanging Dora" -- but the defense might have done even better to challenge for cause Colonel Lee, who also sat in judgment of Terry and who said only two weeks before the trial, "I believe in free speech, but I don't want to hear about it or the ASU from anyone under my command."

The prosecution challenged the lowest-ranking officer on the court, a second lieutenant who was wearing a very liberal looking moustache. Four of the remaining officers had pushed troops in Vietnam.

Terry never took the stand. He knew that he Was being judged by his enemies and he didn't want to give the court-martial any dignity by playing their game. But at one point Terry had to be restrained by civilian counsel Moscowitz, after Lieutenant Reese, a prosecution witness (the man who had placed Terry under arrest for the government at JFK ), had made false statements in relation to Terry's actions at the airport. Terry said to defense counsel Moscowitz, "I can't help it; he's a liar." The same witness admitted later, under cross-examination by the defense counsel, that he not only neglected to inform Terry of his rights under Article 32 of the UCMJ, which is mandatory, but was in fact ordered not to. Article 32 is the Army's interpretation of the Fifth Amendment (the right to remain silent). -

The law officer, a colonel, who acts as interpreter of military law, and does not, as we are told, sit in judgment of the accused, instructed the officer jury that Terry's actions in Paris could be considered in determining desertion, as charged by the government. He also said, "Terry Klug is symptomatic of the great divisions that have been engendered in this country by the Vietnam war."

Terry Klug was sentenced to three years' hard labor, dishonorable discharge, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

He was taken from the courtroom by armed guards.

But the Brass couldn't stop Terry from giving a clenched-fist salute--evidence of his personal strength and symbolic of the ASU's determination to win.

The Bond, vol. 3, no. 5

Library - Reading Room

Terry Given 3 Yrs, Says, 'We're Going To WIN, Baby!'