Who Are Veterans for Peace and Why Are They Holding Those Banners?

Richard Wilson and Everett Aison are active members of Veterans For Peace

For the past eighteen months, members of the Cpl. Jonathan J. Santos Memorial Chapter 111 of Veterans For Peace could be found on various street corners around Bellingham, holding banners and flags. Why are these veterans there offering a sign of peace to all who pass by?

Veterans For Peace (VFP) is a national organization founded in 1985 to raise public awareness of the costs of military conflicts and to seek peaceful, effective, non-violent alternatives to militarism. VFP is structured around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised of members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large members. The men and women veterans are from all eras of 20th and 21st century conflict from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

For over 25 years, the collective experience of VFP veterans has shown that war is easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Drawing on that experience, members see their most important contribution to the Peace Movement as educating the community on the financial and personal costs of war. The Cpl. Jonathan J. Santos Memorial Chapter website (http://www.vfp111.org/resources.htm) tracks the financial cost to the country and to the Whatcom community. However, it is the physical and psychic costs that these veterans have experienced themselves and see perpetuated with each succeeding generation that most informs their commitment to peace.

There is nothing just, heroic and glorifying in war; there is only death and destruction to innocent civilians and their children, and veterans scared by the experience of killing and bloodshed. The costs due to physical and emotional trauma to veterans and their families extend into the community, which has the responsibility to care for these individuals for decades after the wars end.

Veterans For Peace seeks to redress the pain and suffering caused by war through concrete actions. In addition to keeping the issues of the costs of war visible by street-corner vigils and appearances at public events, VFP members are available to speak to groups and in schools in an effort to counter the culture of militarism and support peaceful, effective alternatives to war. Veterans For Peace is actively involved in affecting legislation through development of legislative initiatives and direct lobbying with legislators. There are working groups addressing issues that concern veterans such as: disarmament, care of wounded soldiers and civilians, and the continuing costs of war. Information on these and other activities can be found on the national VFP website: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/take_action.vp.html.

If you would like to support the work of Veterans For Peace in their work to end wars and militarism please consider joining as a Member (if you are a veteran) or Associate member (if you are a non-veteran). If you are interested in having members of VFP speak to your group, please contact the Cpl. Jonathan J. Santos Memorial chapter. http://www.vfp111.org/contact.htm.