Library - Reading Room
Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Wide Support For Feb. 16th
We received many telegrams and letters of support for the February 16th march and rally. In addition to the one reprinted below, there were messages from ex-Green Beret Master Sergeant Donald Duncan who was unable to attend, GI's stationed in Germany, and student organizations in Iceland. Enaland, Sweden, and Holland.
Lt. (j.g.) Susan Schnall
The following telegram was received from Lt. Susan Schnall, the navy nurse who was recently court-martialed for dropping anti-war leaflets from an airplane over military installations, and for wearing her uniform in the San Francisco GI Peace march last October.
"Fellow GI's. Congratulations on your action today. You've served witness to the fact that we in the military shall no longer remain silent on issues which are so much a part of our lives. The war in Vietnam has a very real and personal meaning to us, for we are the ones who are to fight. Who are to be injured, perhaps killed in a senseless encounter. We have not only a duty to ourselves to speak our opinions but we have an obligation and a responsibility to the people of the world to decry this aggressive war, these crimes against humanity. WE have the right as citizens of the United States of freedom of speech. And as members of the armed forces it is imperitive that we use this right to make ourselves heard. We are coming of agewe shall no longer remain silent in the face of death and destruction of a nation. I join you in demanding that this war be ended, that the suffering and dehumanization which the violence of war causes be stopped. I love you all. Peace."
--Susan Schnall, Lt (JG), NC, USMR
Counterpoint, vol. 2, no. 1