Brian Jones reads David Cline with "Touch A Name On The Wall"

David Cline
January 8, 1947 - September 15, 2007:

David Cline was a highly decorated, disabled Vietnam War combat veteran. Returning stateside he became active in the Oleo Strut coffeehouse near Fort Hood, Texas, as described in "Sir No Sir!" the award-winning documentary about GI resistance. He served as a national coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War for more than 20 years. As President of Veterans For Peace 2002-2007, he oversaw tremendous membership growth and helped start Iraq Veterans Against the War. He also co-founded the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign.

Reading in Video comes from the book:Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s, an Oral History.

“They had a GI coffeehouse at Fort Hood, a place called the Oleo Strut. ... The GI movement started at Fort Hood—the Fort Hood Three, three years before I got there, guys who refused to go to Vietnam. That began to plant the seed. The soil was fertile because the reality was that the government was lying to us. Most people are decent people. They don’t want to go kill people and engage in brutality.... I went down there and got involved in publishing an underground newspaper called the Fatigue Press. We were putting out literature against the war and against the military and for GI rights and against racism.”
—Dave Cline on organizing inside the U.S. Army, from the book Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Twayne's Oral History Series)



Touch A Name On The Wall
© 1988 Joel Mabus
sung by Annie and the Vets

Well, I guess you could call it our summer of freedom,
the year that we both turned eighteen -
We hitch-hiked to Denver, fresh out of high school
man, we were sights to be seen.
And that was the year that you dated my cousin, 'til
they took us away in the fall.
Now I dearly wish you were standing here with me as
I touch your name on the wall.

Touch a name on the wall,
Touch a name on the wall.
God help us all
Touch a name on the wall.

Every time I come here I wear my fatigues,
to honor the men that I knew.
I touch every name that came from my outfit,
and I read them out loud when I do.
Now some people say that they all died for nothing,
well, I don't completely agree -
'Cause this brother here didn't die for no country -
He died for me.

[chorus]

Now, usually walls are made for division
- to separate me from you.
But God bless the wall that brings us together,
and reminds us of what we've been through.
And God damn the liars and the tin-plated heroes
who trade on the blood of such men.
God give us the strength to stand up and tell them -
Never again!

[chorus]


You can find out more about Dave, that I have put together Here, collected from various sources after Dave passed away.

Dave Cline 1947-2007

Red Hill Films
54 min 25 sec - Jan 15, 2008

RIP Brother


A Documentary film on the life of peace activist Dave Cline by Andrew Courtney and Emily Perry Red Hill Films

You can find out more about Dave, that I have put together Here, collected from various sources after Dave passed away.

Saturday Jan. 12th Radio Tribute to Dave Cline

RADIO ON SATURDAY

Tune in to the radio tribute to David Cline on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York on Saturday, January 12, Noon - 3 PM EST {WBAI is streamed live over the Internet in multiple formats:
MP3: 24K or 64K or .ram
OGG: 24K or 64K

See WBAI Stream


Expected guests: Paul Zulkowitz, Michael McPhearson, Thomas Brinson, Ken Dalton, Jerry Hassett, Steve Hayes, Stephan Smith, Bryan-David Kee, Marcy J. Gordon, Sue Schnall, Jesse Myerson, Jose Vasquez, Joe Cross, Cindy Sheehan, Eric Laursen, Clark Kissinger, Lori Purdue, Medea Benjamin, David Swanson

IN PERSON ON SUNDAY

A Tribue to Dave Cline
(January 8, 1947 - September 15, 2007)
Antiwar Activist, Labor Organizer, Humanitarian, Vietnam Veteran Against the War, Veteran For Peace

Medal "For Peace and Friendship between Nations" awarded to David Cline by Vietnam Union of Friendship Association

SUNDAY, January 13, 2 - 6 PM

Featuring: STEPHAN SAID aka SMITH, RANDY CREDICO, BRYAN & MARCY, PAT SCANLON, BRIAN JONES as 'Dave Cline', and The Bush Chain Gang; MCs John McDonagh of WBAI & Michael McPhearson of Veterans For Peace; Lori Purdue, Joel Landy, Ron King, Steve Bloom, Jackie Sheeler, Sue Schnall, Sgt. Geoff Millard, Joe Cross, Yonathan Shapira, Video by Andrew Courtney

FREE Refreshments/Cash Bar & Menu Service/Auction & Raffle

CONNOLLY'S
121 West 45 Street, New York NY 10036
(Between Broadway & Sixth Avenue)
SUBWAY: #1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, Shuttle to Times Square Station
PARKING GARAGE: Manhattan Parking, 137 West 45 Street, 212-944-5118

DONATION SUGGESTED
Donations to Veterans For Peace will go toward antiwar events in David Cline's honor.

RSVP & INFO: zool at zoolTheArtandPolitics@hotmail.com or 646-549-1615

David Cline was a highly decorated, disabled Vietnam War combat veteran. A leading member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Dave is prominently featured in 'Sir, No Sir!' an award-winning documentary about GI resistance. As President of Veterans For Peace, David oversaw tremendous growth in membership and helped found Iraq Veterans Against the War. A true humanitarian, David Cline was a co-founder of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign.

Veterans For Peace, founded in 1985, is a 501(c)3 national membership organization and an official NGO represented at the United Nations.

AUCTION ITEMS STILL NEEDED!

Dave Cline plays "Touch a Name on The Wall" by Joel Mabus

DAVE CLINE "Touch a Name on The Wall"

Dave Cline plays "Touch a Name on The Wall" by Joel Mabus.


Jersey City, 2005. National President, Veterans for Peace.
for more videos by Red Hill Films, visit their site.

And for information on an upcoming Tribute to Dave visit this post here

And a number of links about Dave I put together here

The Group Mentioned

Annie and the Vets "Touch A Name On the Wall"

You may laugh, you may cry but you'll certainly think a lot about what's going on in our world after you hear these political/protest/country/folk style songs about peace, sung by members of Veterans for Peace.

Dave Cline

Organizer of anti-war veterans

“They had a GI coffeehouse at Fort Hood, a place called the Oleo Strut. ... The GI movement started at Fort Hood—the Fort Hood Three, three years before I got there, guys who refused to go to Vietnam. That began to plant the seed. The soil was fertile because the reality was that the government was lying to us. Most people are decent people. They don’t want to go kill people and engage in brutality.... I went down there and got involved in publishing an underground newspaper called the Fatigue Press. We were putting out literature against the war and against the military and for GI rights and against racism.”

—Dave Cline on organizing inside the U.S. Army, from the book Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Twayne's Oral History Series)


Dave Cline, an anti-war soldier and military veteran activist, trade unionist and anti-racist, died at his Jersey City home on Sept. 15—another hidden casualty of the Vietnam War. He had been quite ill for the last few months but continued to organize for veterans’ rights, against the Iraq War and on behalf of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange up until his death.

Dave grew up in a working class family in Buffalo, N.Y., and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1967. Later that year, while serving with the 25th Infantry Division, he was wounded in a kill-or-be-killed situation near the Cambodian border and became permanently disabled. The incident affected him politically, physically and emotionally every day for the rest of his life.

In 1968 while on convalescent leave at home, Dave got involved with the Buffalo Draft Resistance Union and began speaking out publicly against the war. His political activism took off from there.

He helped run the Oleo Strut GI coffee house in Killeen, Texas, outside Fort Hood, which is still today a U.S. Army megabase. In 1970 he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and became one of its early leaders. In the 1980s he helped resurrect the organization.

In the 1970s he worked at the Jersey City bulk mail facility of the U.S. Postal Service. Cline led a number of wildcat strikes as an elected shop steward of the New York Metro Local of the American Postal Workers Union, which led to his being fired. He also led co-workers in a militant confrontation with a racist Klan-type organization that was terrorizing people of color in Jersey City.

In the 1980s Dave was a vice president of Transportation Workers Union Local 600 while employed by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority.

He was president of Veterans for Peace when 9/11 happened and worked tirelessly against the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan that followed. He always pushed hard for diversity in the organization, especially encouraging African-American membership and leadership. Cline met with veterans of the current wars and assisted and encouraged them in their formation of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

In 2003 he led a delegation of military veterans to the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, supporting the local struggle in actions that resulted in the U.S. Navy closing down its bombing range there.

In 2006 he traveled to Vietnam and took part in the historic International Agent Orange Conference. When a delegation of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims toured the U.S. earlier this year as part of a legal campaign for reparations, Cline gave his Purple Heart medal to one of the delegation’s members during a public meeting in New York City.

He was motivated by the struggle for peace and justice. He will be missed by all who worked with him, as evidenced by the overflow crowd that attended his funeral.

Michael Kramer is a member of Veterans For Peace, Chapter 021, in Jersey City.
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Farewell Dave Cline

The following is an e-mail sent out by Displaced Films David Zeiger. David produced the Important Documentary Sir! No Sir! of which Dave Cline was a big part of, but let Dave Zeiger explain.

{ I've added a few links, that many may find interresting for abit of history and memory, especially the Vets and Activists of that time - js }

I am very sad to have to report the news that Dave Cline died this past weekend.

There are many wonderful tributes to Dave being written at Veterans For Peace { You can also find tributes written at the Vietnam Veterans Against the War VVAW site. You will find a link for the Bill Davis Memorial Guestbook as well as the Dave Cline Memorial Guestbook. And if you're in the Jersey City, New Jersey area information on the memorial services, word is a concert is being planned for January in Honor of Dave, he enjoyed fun as well as a life of purpose - js }, and I would like to add some personal reflections on the part of his life with which I was deeply connected-the GI Movement against the Vietnam War { you can visit the GI Movement Archives at the Sir! No Sir! site for a trip down memory lane - js }. I hope you will indulge some nostalgic reminiscing here-there really is a point to it.

Let me say up front that without Dave Cline, Sir! No Sir! would not have been made.

I met Dave in the Spring of 1970, when I joined the staff of the Oleo Strut Coffeehouse outside Ft. Hood in Killeen, Texas. My introduction to him and the GI Movement was riding in a broken down Chevy with Dave driving 120 mph through central Texas and me convinced I would never get out of there alive. I'm not sure anything defines Dave Cline better than that wild ride.

Dave and I were from different worlds. I was a middle class kid who came to my opposition to the war and growing radicalism intellectually. Dave, a working class kid from Buffalo, had joined the army and been wounded three times in Vietnam. It was his last wound, from an NLF soldier at point blank range, that changed everything. The soldier shattered Dave's knee, and Dave killed him with a bullet in the chest. His first realization was it was "pure luck" that he was alive and the other guy was dead. Then it hit him that there was no real difference between the two of them. Finally, the epiphany: It was the NLF soldier who was fighting for a just cause, while Dave and his comrades were fighting for a lie. In typical Dave Cline fashion he concluded in 1970, "I had to kill a revolutionary to become a revolutionary."

And revolutionaries we were. Right there in Killeen fucking Texas. In 1971-with literally thousands of GIs rebelling against the war and joining groups like the Black Panther Party-planning demonstrations by day and hotly debating the writings of Marx, Lenin and Mao by night was a very practical thing to do. And boy could Dave debate. Even in his sleep. It wasn't uncommon for him to jolt up from his bed at 2 am to continue a discussion from earlier that day, only to have no memory of it the next morning (Dave claimed he had even slept through a mortar attack in Vietnam).

And it was in that cauldron that we grew up. We were part of an unprecedented political upheaval, and we were alive in a way that is very rare-even though we could barely afford to eat two skimpy meals a day. Terry Davis, Dave's wife at the time, reminded me recently that one of her happiest moments was when Mark Lane donated a sack of potatoes to the staff.

Dave was intense, determined, and maddeningly stubborn. In 1970, the last thing a GI wanted to do after getting out of the army was live in a military town-even if he had been active in the movement. But here was Dave, during high points and low (which were most of the time), refusing to let go or give up. His connection with the GIs, whether they agreed with us or not, was deep and seamless-and it made the Oleo Strut something special. I can't begin to quantify what I learned from Dave those two years.

Then the war ended, and we all moved into other arenas, believing deeply in the possibility of revolution right here in the United States. For a while we stayed close, but through the years political disagreements developed, and in those heady times that meant a lot. By the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s we weren't in contact any more. Those were very difficult times. In one of the last conversations I had with Dave back then he told me that every morning he woke up thinking "Oh fuck, another day!"

So when I started to make Sir! No Sir! Dave was the first person I wanted to talk to, but I had no idea what or whom I would find. What I found was the person so many have been writing about these last few days. Wracked by illness, he was extraordinarily energetic and eager to tell his story. The day of our interview, he had just come home from a grueling three-day VFP convention and was worried he wouldn't have much energy. We talked for four hours.

And here's the most important part. After decades of both political and personal conflicts, there are still some out there who would say "Don't talk to so-and-so, 'cause he's a yada-yada." Not only would Dave have none of that, he actively spoke against it. Dave knew the tremendous importance of telling the story of the GI Movement today, in this world and with this war. Because of him, several people are in the film alongside others they wouldn't have been in the same room with a few years ago. And he carried that spirit into the dozens of screenings and Q&As he participated in these past couple of years. He has played a tremendous role in making Sir! No Sir! the spark for today's GI Movement that it has been. And that's on top of his superhuman energy in building the work of Veterans for Peace.

In these last years of his life, I don't think Dave was saying "Oh fuck, another day!" anymore.

This has been a tough year. Along with Dave, two other veterans of the GI Movement who were integral parts of the film have also died-Oliver Hirsch of the Nine for Peace, and Terry Whitmore, who deserted to Sweden after watching federal troops invade his home town of Memphis as he lay wounded in a hospital bed in Japan. Along with Dave, their lives had deep historic meaning.

For more about Dave, and information on funeral and memorial plans, please go to Veterans For Peace

Signed,

David Zeiger

Of Displaced Films the producer of Sir! No Sir!

I had to share, especially to those of that time, my brother and sister veterans, those of us who served in- country 'Nam, and All the civilian activists, a sure minority than but extremely loud and dedicated to what this country meant to them and what it should be, not one of empty words but one of Example!

As it probably never wil be now!!

For it can't find the Courage to Hold Those Accountible for what they have done, All in the Name of the Ideologies of Politics, not certainly of Country!!

VFP Executive Director, Michael T. McPhearson - On David Cline RIP

David Cline We Salute You

A leader, mentor, and friend passes away, 1947 - 2007

David Cline passed away early September 15, 2007. Most of you know that David was a giant in the Veteran’s anti-war and Peace movements. A national coordinator and long time member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War as well as former President of Veterans For Peace, David was a crucial part of the explosion in VFP’s growth and led us in our planning and actions as we have resisted the invasion and occupation of Iraq. David was a giant among people who motivated all of us to action by modeling leadership and providing inspiration.

David was my boss, mentor, friend and I loved him. He recruited me into VFP by simply being the person he was, a veteran working for peace. There are few people outside of my family whose death means such a loss to me personally. There are few in our nation whose loss means so much to our movement.

A quote David loved so much guided his thoughts and actions. He carried it in his wallet so that he could whip it out to motivate us at any time. Of course he also had it memorized.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." Frederick Douglass

David Cline we Salute You.

Letter from Executive Director, Michael T. McPhearson

See Online Memorial

A few other Tributes, one is mine:

Anti-war Vet Dave Cline Is Dead

A Tribute To A True American Veteran, Passionate Peace Advocate, and Friend

of Dave Cline and his brothers
And this added to celticshel's KOS diary above:

RIP

Dave Cline

d. Friday September 14, 2007

Vietnam 1967, 25th Infantry

wounded three times and permanently disabled

Bronze Star with V Device; Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters; Combat Infantryman Badge; New York State Conspicuous Service Cross; and other medals. Veterans for Peace; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Jersey City Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee; Military Order of the Purple Heart; 25th Infantry Division Association; Veterans of Foreign Wars; featured in the documentary “Sir! No Sir!”



He fought alongside you, then

He fought to honor you.

He fought that others like you not suffer your fate.

He has joined you in death but his memory, like yours, lives on.

We will continue his work.

We will fight in your names, and now in his.

You have fallen, but you are not forgotten.

Your sacrifice was not in vain.

We remember.

We always will.

-a friend, in peace

September 15th Jailbirds (and Dave Cline)

From Fellow Veteran and VFP Member, Stan Goff, posted over at Huffington Post

Dave Cline...

In memory of Dave, I am linking the four-part series Spearpoint that described the Veterans and Survivors March for Peace and Justice, from Mobile, AL to New Orleans, conducted in March 2006. Dave was the person who put that idea in our heads.

Spearpoint PART 1

Spearpoint PART 2

Spearpoint PART 3

Spearpoint PART 4

And a mention by David Swanson, of After Dowing Street, in this article:
Is Peace or Impeachment Possible?

It's great to see such a crowd and so many groups represented. I especially want to thank Veterans for Peace. Dave Cline was a great leader and will be badly missed. We should all go out and do as much as he did with his admirable life.