Library - Reading Room
Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
International Movement News
Phum Tasuous Cambodia
Sixteen soldiers in the American 25th Division initially refused to leave their unit on an invasion of Cambodia. All 16 finally agreed to go to a forward command base in Vietnam on the understanding that they would not have to go across the frontier. Of course, their commanding officer lied, and eventually shanghied them to a village four miles inside Cambodia.
Rebellion Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan
On July 4 the prisoners confined in the Marine brig at the Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan, rebelled and occupied a. section of the brig for 14 hours before armed Marine guards broke the rebellion with repressive force. The Associated Pess(AP) reported in the Japan Times that $2,000 or $3,000 worth of damage was done by the rebelling prisoners, but according to a contact of the American Servicemen's Union the damage done was much more extensive than that.
Eight of the prisoners, the Ivakuni 3, have been framed-up by the Brass as scape-goats and are to be tried for leading the rebellion. These eight men are being held in the Ybkohama Brig, in solitary confinement, in another part of Japan for court-martials on so-called riot charges.
The Mainichi Shimbuu a Japanese daily newspaper, reported on July 6 that 'the 'riot' on the base reflects the growth of the movement against the war among GIs, and also the growing tension caused by the oppresive Brass. There are some 350 anti-war Marines on the base." One prisoner was injured according to the AP when he "accidentally cut himself on a piece of furniture."
The reason for the rebellion was that the men were held in the brig, in pretrial confinement, for as long as six weeks without trial for the offense they were confined for in the first place. Other greviences were undue harassment by the brig Brass and guards and bad prison conditions. There were 32 prisoners in the brig, all Marines with one sailor.
Black Soldiers Burn Barracks in Korea - Pochon, South Korea, 5/30/70, (LNS)
$50,000 damage was done to a U.S. army barracks by about 50 black soldiers who were angrily responding to discrimination within the Army.
The incident occurred in an army hut -- one of hundreds of U.S. Army Outposts throughout South Korea -located in Pochon, in South Korea's Kyonggi Province. Several black soldiers were arbitrarily denied passes by the Brass, which led the black soldiers to call a meeting. After the meeting, five buildings in the barracks were set afire, according to a dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency.
Quan Loi Vietnam
Several troopers were recently courts-martialed at Quan Loi, headquarters of the 1st Air Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade, for refusing to fight. During the last four and a half months of 1969. a total of 109 men in the 1st Air Cavalry have faced trial for the same offense.
A Four Year Bummer, vol. 2, no. 6