New York City- August 30th As throngs of demonstrators poured out of the 23rd Street subway yesterday including me, just the excitement of witnessing MASSES of people, young and old snake their way to the march kickoff site was stimulating. I had a feeling that history was being made with each step taken - each new body joining up into a march which may have topped 500,000 people. I checked my watch it was 11:40AM. Via email and other communication techniques members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) of which US Presidential candidate John F. Kerry was both a member and stellar leader; Veterans for Peace, the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) reached out to tell their comrades that Veterans were asked to honorifically walk point and lead the march. Veterans were told to rendezvous on 22nd street between 7th and 8th Avenue. As I arrived I feverishly looked around for other vets but only a few were seen. I met and old comrade Dr. Jon Bjornson from Philadelphia who was a founding member of VVAW in Philadelphia. We hugged warmly. I told Jon we were supposed to meet up with the others at the beginning of the march. As I looked down 7th Avenue- lo and behold the march had commenced early. I told Jon to follow me and walked briskly to get to the front lines. Unfortunately, I lost contact with Jon and proceeded to the front. Immediately I saw a large banner which read 'Vietnam Veterans Against the War' I was home. Dave Cline from Jersey City and a load of other brothers in their mid- 50's to late 70's were there. Veterans for Peace was in full strength from both New York, New Jersey, Santa Barbara and Minneapolis. Cadence was being counted as the bullhorns blasted the Republican Party's unwise choice for President with boot camp songs changed into political songs. Hide di hide di hide di ho! George W. Bush has got to go! Sound off! One Two Sound off! Three Four Bring it in down One two three four George Bush out the door! Soon we had our stride down and orange leaflets began to appear. Surreptitiously, they were pulled out of pockets when I got mine I read it: 'VETERANS REUNION at SUMMIT ROCK IN CENTRAL PARK TODAY!!!...(SUNDAY) @1700 HOURS (that's 5pm for those who don't speak Veteranese) AFTER the MARCH....let's Do Our Own Thing just like we always have) and TAKE THE HIGH GROUND IN CENTRAL PARK! This INVITATION goes out primarily to other VVAW troops...but also just as warmly to Vets for Peace, VVA, Citizen Soldiers...COs, deserters, Just Plain Old Vets, Vets' Friends and Families and most assuredly to members/Potential Members of the (brand new) IRAQI VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR What???... where is the HIGH GROUND??? It's called SUMMIT ROCK Highest point in Central Park. It's on the WEST SIDE of the park....between 81st St and 85th St. It's quiet & "private", with nice shade trees. Pack in your MREs... or Deli Stuff from Zabars. Make your pit stop before you climb to HIGH GROUND! We will Leave No Trace. We field Strip everything. No speeches....no Circus...no politicians....no Headliners. A PERFECT PLACE for a GRAND REUNION OF VETERANS! A place to hug in private. A place to tell war stories....from Days Gone By. It's about COMING TOGETHER...ONE MORE TIME! Nothing more then that. PS to Cops, Narcs, Agents & Hawks This is NOT a Rally, there is NO P.A. system, no speakers, no violence, no Terrorists. Just Vets and Friends in a little Reunion in the People's Park. We're cool with NYC.' I noticed the color of the vet who handed me this bill. Sand colored camouflage! Then I saw his shirt- A pure white shirt with a red map of Iraq and over the center of Iraq was an inverted rifle with bayonet facing downwards and a helmet on the riflebutt- the insignia of a fallen comrade. Underneath this were large black letters which read 'IRAQI VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR'. Naturally the young vet just back from Iraq was a jarhead, a gyrene, a United States Marine. We smiled and embraced and greeted each other as Marines are wont to do- Semper Fi! I turned my head to see one of the happiest and dreamed for banners- sand colored with the high lights of the Iraqi flag- white, red, green, and black. My heart jumped there were at least a couple of squads of Iraqi Vets- male and female- who were, in my opinion, the BEST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT to occur in recent times. The Iraqi Veterans Against the War (IVAW) have a brand new website which can be visited at "www.ivaw.net". They formally organized on 28 July in Boston. Their number included a recent Gold Star mother who has lost her son. As we snaked our way down to Madison Square Garden the crowds of spectators let out s a crys of happiness and happy approval upon seeing this motley formation. The veterans stopped and held an inpromptu rally with liberal use of the bullhorn- intergenerational cadence songs were called out and the sea of non-veterans picked up the singing responsing very strongly. Many policemen along the march route gave us the thumps up and indeed some who I might gather were veterans themselves saluted the young Iraqi vets. Steve Noetzel a former Green Beret who served in Viet Nam in the early years of 1963 held a two sided sign which read 'VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR AGAIN" on one side and on the other side; KERRY Loved him in '71 Support him in '04. Steve and I were comrades in both VVAW and VVA, and Steve now is coordinating both 'Veterans for Kerry' in the Bay Area, and is advising young Iraqi Vets now returning home on how to organize. The march concluded and the vets all decamped. But as 1700 hours rolled along we found ourselves inside Central Park. We all joked intergenerationally that just as it is inside the military so too confusion reigned but we finally found our spot. Folks just chilled and mingled and ate sandwiches and drank a few brewskis in fraternity. The numbers were small about 80 people but the quality was gigantic. Like a godfather, Jan Barry, who along with only a handful of other recently discharged Vietnam Vets had founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1967 sat quietly on Summit Rock watching Bush's veterans chat and interact with each other. There was no doubt smiles on the faces of the Vietnam Veterans witnessing the birth of a new organization which has the unique experience and potential of playing the same roll in the current war and that is- if the media would bother to speak with them- of providing the political dagger to George Bush's second term. Another vet from Massachusetts, Joe Bangert stood up. He wore a shirt with the logo of the same icon for the fallen as the Iraqi Vets had adopted- except Bangert's shirt read: HOI CUU CHIEN BINH MY PHAN DOI CHIEN TRANH TAI VIETNAM- Vietnamese for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Bangert, a former machine door gunner on helicopters in Vietnam called all the troops to LISTEN UP! Although speeches had been discouraged Bangert plowed ahead and suggested that on this Summit in Central Park that 'the time has come for those of us who have fought the good fight to pass the torch to you young Iraqi veterans'. He explained that for those former members of VVAW that only they could sympathize with the isolation that the Iraqi vets returning home from the bloody scenes in Najaf and Baghdad have. No one to understand the specifics of the horror they had just witnessed and experienced. Bangert even brazenly said 'when we Vietnam Vets came home America's greatest generation turned their backs on us.' Another speaker from Vietnam Vets of America welcomed the younger vets into the fold of veteran fraternity and said that VVA's slogan at their founding was 'Never let one generation of veterans abandon another.' A rally was now in full swing. Dave Cline of VVAW spoke about how the rest of thew week had a role for veterans to play and urged the vets to attend and participate. People hugged and exchanged farewells and later at 9pm at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre Iraqi-American guitarist and singer STEPHAN SMITH performed in a free concert. Smith's epic 'The Bell' hit song was launched before Bush ordered US military Forces into Iraq in 2003. Smith stopped the show and invited all the Iraqi Veterans Against the War and their stories were heart rendering- of having buddies next to them dying, of the incredible warmness of the Iraqi people. Of atrocities being ordered and executed in the killing of unarmed civilians. Although their war has claimed at this writing almost 1,000 soldiers, airman and Marines, wounded over 10,000 and over 50,000 Iraqis, this may be only the beginning. The young Iraqi war vets demanded last night- much like their brothers and fathers who fought in Viet Nam three decades before- 'to stop this war NOW and BRING OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS HOME NOW! Now what both these groups have in common- combat war experience is something George W. Bush does not share. Vietnam Vets, some of them know that the Vietnamese word for peace is 'HOA BINH', and last night it was the young freshly minted vets who told their older brothers the Iraqi word for peace, is simply SALAAM. SALAAM! PEACE! HOA BINH! PULL THE LEVER IN NOVEMBER TO TAKE OUT BUSH! THE FATE OF THE WORLD IS IN YOUR HANDS. OUR BEST BET IS TO ELECT A VET! KERRY IS THE ANSWER IN NOVEMBER! http://www.vietnamveteransforbush.com http://www.ivaw.net