◆ SpookStack

NH 175-42 On the morning of June 7, 1972, S ial Agents [____]and THOMAS M, MURPHY observed Regional | . Coordinator for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War CVVAW) — . . b7 on the campus of Connecticut College, | across from © the United States Coast Guard Academy. and four others released four black balloons, which measured five to six feet in diameter. These balloons were attached to a line and on each instance the balloons got away from those holding them and drifted into the sky. During this period Vice President of the United States SPIRO T. AGNEW was present at the Coast Guard Academy Commencement Exercises as the main speaker. The VVAW was founded in the Spring of 1967 by six young Vietnam veterans in New York City, At the beginning of 1968, with 600 members, VVAW opened a national office, founded the first GI newspaper "Vietnam GI!, and sent close to 500 veterans into the MC CARTHY campaign to beat down the red baiters. After getting gassed at the Democratic Convention in Chicago and caught in the general "down" of the peace movement, VVAW was nearly inactive until the moratoriums in the Fall of 1969. Members of the VVAW Led student strikes on major campuses across the country and battled Veterans Administration Hospital authorities over threats to throw amputee Vietnam veterans out for signing anti-war petitions. At present, membership of the VVAW nationally, consists o£ 8,500 members.