My special Memorial Day thanks are for those who have peacefully devoted their lives to the cause of peace. I hold in memory that we did NOT have WWIII with the Soviet Union and am grateful to the leadership of the peace movements (many were WWII pacifists such as A.J. Muste), who I believe did more to prevent wars and keep Korea and Vietnam from going nuclear (which almost happened), than any soldiers I know. Of course, if these peaceful people hadn’t been around preventing WWIII, I probably wouldn’t be here to hold them in memory – they saved many lives. But since a decimated Poland and other former Communist satellites might have been free after WWIII, it’s quite possible that those who did survive would claim that WWIII was a necessary price and that no other way was possible.
June 1, 2011
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I remember Ray Moore, a WWI Quaker pacifist member of our meeting. He survived WWI, but while driving an ambulance his pacifist partner was shot dead in the head. Military officers sometimes thought it as clever of them to commandeer ambulances for ammunition supply. Others thought it was clever to shoot at ambulances and see which ones exploded. I can provide the names of a number of pacifists who died in war. I certainly don’t know all the names and I doubt that anyone does. There existence is ignored (or denied?) by the public and the government/military PR machine.
Comment by admin — June 1, 2011 @ 1:07 pm