HATED THE WHOLE SLIMY WAR"
The rising opposition to the dirty war in Vietnam appears to be nettling Presidént Johnson. At a fund-raising dinner. May 17 for the Cook County [Chicago] Democratic party, the Commander in Chief of the colonial army of conquest decided to open a counterattack. One of his remarks: was widely reported and commented on:
"There - will: be. some nervous -Nellies and some who will become. *frustrated and bothered and break ranks under the strain. and turn on their own leaders, their own country, and their own fighting men. There will be times of. trial and tension that will exact the best that is’ in: ali of: ‘Us.
Ahong those ‘the president of the United States may have. had in mind‘ was Juanita Butcher, who was married to a Vietnam combat... | hero Sgt. Reubin Butcher, of Queens, New York. She was informed - May 14 that her husband had been killed by a barrage from his own _ unit's artillery fire. His body was to be flown to New York in a metal casket May 18. She was interviewed by Barry Cunningham of the New York Post. He found the young widow's (eyes | reddened with anger as well as tears. ue om —
"I've been crying since last Saturday," she told the Post reporter. "What good does it do? This war is useless. My husband . et said so in his letters before’ he died. He hated the whole sliny war."
“The father of the 22-year- old widow, Robert L. Janes , an employee of the New York subway system, was angry, too.
"Gangsters," he said referring to the ‘telegram from the Defense Department. The words ,, "died of wounds fron friendly artillery fire" were underlined ini ‘pencil.
"9 me that. ‘sounds: like a. ‘bunch ‘of gangeters ‘shooting. at one another'in the same room.-We don't- know who.we're oe shere, do we? We" re just shooting and: killing: every, which way.
Set. ‘Reubin Butcher was first wounded last Pebruary. He was “worried about not being able to write" to his wife because of his’
~4w
wounds. Still he had-managed. And’ he had told his wife that as - "desolate" as things were during his stay in Korea in 1964, Tee twice as bad in Viet ‘Nam:
‘Said Juanita: "He wrote to me that he had killed a man. | He . saw some of his friends killed. I couldn't take it any more.
"T told him ‘to keep writing mé, but please don ‘Say anything about the blood." © . ner a
Mr. James spoke up. "I've been listening to this nan from
Arkansas -- Mr. Fulbright, and Morse, too. They say we're getting nowhere in Viet Nam. I agree with them.
"These pickets and the boys who burn. “their draft cards aren. 't crazy.
“He added thas. his. son-in-law had written home that "most of. us don't know who we*re fighting or why we're here. .
Mr. James seeined to be worrying about something else in addi-. tion. "You don't have freedom of speech when you're in uniform. You're afraid to say anything. I know..I'm a city worker. I'm afraid to say anything: in: fact, maybe I shouidn! % say this, but my son-inlaw's death was 8 waste. a
If these people, and millions like them in the United’ States were suddenly to say out loud what is really on their minds, and take action accordingly, it's for sure: one nervous Nellie could be dug up -- the man responsible for escalating the slimy war in . Vietnam. © -
poy
“