Here’s a bit of forgotten Honolulu political history from an unusual source–a series of photographs take by an Army photographer in 1970. These few small snapshots were given to me decades later by friend who turned out to have been a member of the Hawaii Armed Services Police at the time.
The story: In November 1970, a 26-year old soldier on R&R in Honolulu went went AWOL and publicly announced he would not return to active duty in Vietnam because of his religious convictions.
Gerald LePage, originally from Connecticut, contacted a local peace group, catholic Action of Hawaii, immediately after arriving in the islands. He then went “underground” with the assistance of catholic Action members, but announced his intention to turn himself in to authorities within 30 days to avoid his absence being considered desertion, which would be punished by much harsher penalties.
This was not Hawaii’s first experience with sanctuary and dissent by active duty military personnel. Dozens of soldiers had taken sanctuary at the Church of the Crossroads in August 1969 to protest the war, and held out until the church was raided by about 40 military police on September 12.
After a month “underground,” LePage publicly announced he would attend a Christmas Eve service at the Wesley Foundation on University Avenue near the University of Hawaii campus, and then turn himself in to HASP at the U.S. Army Military Reservation at Fort DeRussy, located at the edge of Waikiki.
Following the church service, LePage was being driven to DeRussy followed by a caravan of supporters when military police stopped the group along McCully Street within sight of their destination.
Although the photographs I received were not in very good condition, they provide a candid look at this moment in Hawaii’s movement in support of peace and nonviolence. I’m the bearded guy in this photo, with prominent activist and author Emmett Cahill standing just behind me.
A number of other prominent activists during that period can be seen in this and other photos in the series.
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Wow! You took me right back to my first year at UHM! I remember that period so clearly, Church of the Crossroads was the place and topic! Do you remember the silent vigil at the Fountain to protest the war? Do you recall Toshi’s ( I think that was his name. ) protest sculpture cobbled together from scraps? He wasn’t a student but he had opinions that drove him to build a project that was never approved by the UH. They indulged him and eventually took it down.
Thank you for this reflection. I was born during this time of turbulence. It’s interesting to think about how some things have changed, but some things remain the same. Perhaps it’s just the cyclical nature of things; with the pendulum now swinging back. Every photo in this collection shows the spirit of aloha and respect for civil society.
Good for the activists! Those days we just got drafted or joined up for military service without much question. Gov’t said go fight and majority just went. Looking back now we were suckers getting into wars with govt propaganda line and lies and we are still at the same thing decades later. Hard to believe we’re still so stupid.
WOW! I picked you out immediately 🙂