Hear the Screams of Our Children
My dad was the 7th of 9 children. The youngest, my Aunt Carleen, was a high school classmate and best friend of my mother, years before she met my dad. My aunt’s oldest son, Dave, was my age and we were classmates in high school. Dave and I were eligible for the draft during the …
Jacob David George (1982 – September 17, 2014) In May 2012, at the NATO Summit in Chicago, I marched with Veterans for Peace holding a rope perimeter around more than 40 veterans of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including Jacob George, who hurled their military medals toward the NATO summit gates in an …
Here I share stories of people who went through a major transformation of their perspectives. All grew up aligned with the near universal versions of history and beliefs that are taught in the United States and reinforced in all aspects of life. But, later in adult life, sometimes very late, they could not reconcile some …
S Brian Willson (July 4, 1941) I first met Brian Willson at the 2013 Veterans for Peace Conference in Madison Wisconsin. Our local chapter hosted the annual conference that year. My friend and colleague Jack Ryan of Peoria, Illinois was fired by the FBI for sending a memo to his supervisor stating he was “not …
Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) Like Ann Wright, Chris Hedges is at nearly every event that I attend and 100 times more. I first met Chris in April 2012 in Washington D.C. where he co-hosted a speaking event with Ralph Nader. A year or two later I joined Paul Appell to hike Mt. …
Ann Wright (born 1947) I have very rarely participated in any events where Ann Wright was not also participating or leading and she participates in another 100 events for each of the ones with me. I joined her 2012 delegation to Gaza when Israel attacked. Ann Wright spent thirteen years in the U.S. Army and …
Ray McGovern (born August 25, 1939) I first met Ray in April 2012 in Washington D.C., I believe at an event at his church and later at Veterans for Peace conventions. Ray came to Washington in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and subsequently served 27 years as a CIA analyst from the …
Judge Arthur Brennan (born December 25, 1946) I first met Judge Arthur Brennan in April 2012 at the Friends Meeting House on Florida Avenue near Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. He was the speaker at one event of the NOW DC Social Forum. NOW stands for National Occupy Washington. Art told us he had been …
John (Jack) C. Ryan (born 19 June 1938) In March of 2003, a few days before the US launched the Iraq War, I joined a group of about 8 people standing in the rain at the corner of the Federal Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois. Jack Ryan spoke. It was the first time I met him …
Steven Bray (born October 18, 1955) This is the story of my transformation. My contributions are far more modest than the others but I should tell you a little about myself. I wish to also acknowledge that the risks are far greater for those in government, particularly military or intelligence agencies. Unlike me, most of …