On November 9, 1969, the GI Press Service placed in the New York Times an advertisement signed by 1,365 active duty servicemen. The ad announced the GIs’ support for the November 15 demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco, and called for the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam.
The ad not only contributed to the tremendous success of the November 15 demonstrations, but also had a profound influence on public opinion by showing the widespread anti-war sentiment among GIs.
The ad also, of course, upset the brass, and a meeting of top level officers was held at the Pentagon to try to come up with some pretext on which to court martial the GIs who had signed. This attempt by the brass was unsuccessful, however, since signing such an ad is perfectly legal. The most the brass could do was, in a few cases, lift security clearances or transfer the GIs to other jobs.
The 1,365 signatures on the November 9 ad were collected in a very brief period of time and clearly represented only a fraction of the anti-war sentiment within the ranks of the military. We believe that it is now possible to collect far more signatures for such an ad and to demonstrate that the “silent majority” within the services is overwhelmingly opposed to the war.
The advertisement on this page will be printed in newspapers in various parts of the country in order to bring its message to as many Americans as possible. None of the advertisements will be placed until a minimum of 1,500 signatures have been collected, although in some cases it may be necessary to print fewer signatures than the total that have signed.
We are asking GIs who sign to list their home town and state; this will make it possible to print ads in home town papers in cities where large numbers of GIs have signed.
The text of the ad should be reproduced exactly and circulated to as many GIs as possible. (Don’t circulate it on duty time!) Additional copies of the text can also be obtained by writing to the GI Press Service, 1029 Vermont Ave., NW, room 907, Washington, D.C. 20005. Completed petitions should be returned to the same address.
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Text of Petition
I authorize my name to appear in advertisements sponsored by the GI PRESS SERVICE of the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. The advertisement(s) will appear in newspaper(s) published in the United States, and will have a headline reading “GI’S OPPOSE THE WAR!” The text of the advertisements to which my name will be appended is as follows:
GIs Oppose the War!
We are active-duty servicemen and servicewomen.
We are opposed to the American involvement in Vietnam.
We oppose the continued wasting of lives in a cause opposed to the best interests of the American and the Vietnamese people.
We believe that many of our fellow servicemen and servicewomen share our view that the war must be ended by the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam in order that the Vietnamese people may settle their own affairs.
We the undersigned members of the armed forces of the United States hereby petition the U.S. Government for redress of these grievances as provided in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S.
Signature
Name (Printed)
Rank (not grade) Base
Home town
Military mailing address
Related
See Fifth Estate’s Vietnam Resource Page.