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.