Terri, great piece. Thanks for posting it! As to "The War," my own personal experience, like many other young men my age, was that the Draft Board deemed me "1A," right out of High School. I turned 18 on September 9, 1969, and they wasted no time in sending me my Induction Notice just days later. "Report to the Oakland Induction Center at 8:00 AM, Monday," etc. I mumbled, "Fuck That!" I threw the letter into the fire place. As Arlo Guthrie so eloquently put it in his classic song, "Alice's Restaurant," "You mean to tell me that I can't go to Viet Nam to kill innocent women and children after being a litter bug?" Right On, Arlo! Some of my friends even moved to Canada, and one guy applied to be a "Conscientious Objector," and got it! (After long delays). He was my hero, kind of like Gary Cooper in the classic Anti-War film "Seargent York." But I was still nervous, watching the mail closely while waiting for the "Nazi Gendarmes" to show up at my front door with their handcuffs at the ready. Well, I never heard another peep from the Draft Board! I figured that with millions of guys to process, I kind of just "Fell Through The Cracks!" Now, for other Wars, I might have even enlisted, if I thought that it was for a good cause, (NOT, ha ha), but I didn't condone nor support that War, so today I have a clear conscious about it. So Peace and Luv, John Allen Cassady
Thanks, John, for sharing your personal experiences of a traumatic time in US history. I often wondered what happened to those young men who did burn their draft cards or tried to disappear. You, as you say, seemed to just drop off the radar. What a hell you avoided.
Terri, I'm Neal and Carolyn Cassady's oldest and John's big sister. I love your essay. Interesting to hear how the Beats lived on the other side of the country. Isn't David Amram a jewel? There should be more people like him in the world....we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now.
Terri, great piece. Thanks for posting it! As to "The War," my own personal experience, like many other young men my age, was that the Draft Board deemed me "1A," right out of High School. I turned 18 on September 9, 1969, and they wasted no time in sending me my Induction Notice just days later. "Report to the Oakland Induction Center at 8:00 AM, Monday," etc. I mumbled, "Fuck That!" I threw the letter into the fire place. As Arlo Guthrie so eloquently put it in his classic song, "Alice's Restaurant," "You mean to tell me that I can't go to Viet Nam to kill innocent women and children after being a litter bug?" Right On, Arlo! Some of my friends even moved to Canada, and one guy applied to be a "Conscientious Objector," and got it! (After long delays). He was my hero, kind of like Gary Cooper in the classic Anti-War film "Seargent York." But I was still nervous, watching the mail closely while waiting for the "Nazi Gendarmes" to show up at my front door with their handcuffs at the ready. Well, I never heard another peep from the Draft Board! I figured that with millions of guys to process, I kind of just "Fell Through The Cracks!" Now, for other Wars, I might have even enlisted, if I thought that it was for a good cause, (NOT, ha ha), but I didn't condone nor support that War, so today I have a clear conscious about it. So Peace and Luv, John Allen Cassady
Thanks, John, for sharing your personal experiences of a traumatic time in US history. I often wondered what happened to those young men who did burn their draft cards or tried to disappear. You, as you say, seemed to just drop off the radar. What a hell you avoided.
Terri, I'm Neal and Carolyn Cassady's oldest and John's big sister. I love your essay. Interesting to hear how the Beats lived on the other side of the country. Isn't David Amram a jewel? There should be more people like him in the world....we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now.