Chapter 27 History
In 1988 Wayne Wittman and nine other veterans applied to the National Veterans for Peace organization for a Minnesota Twin Cities charter. The charter was granted, and VFP Chapter 27 was up and running.
Prior to the existence of Chapter 27 an organization called Minnesota Veterans for Life actively opposed the deployment of Minnesota Air National Guard units in Honduras on behalf of Nicaraguan contra forces. Their direct actions included demonstrations at the guard air fields and calling attention to the U.S. support of the contras. Wayne Wittman, although much older than the other members of that group, identified with their efforts and became a member.
During the 1960s Wayne had participated in antiwar actions opposing the United States war in Vietnam. Although he had never personally fought in Vietnam, he had served in the Navy at the beginning of the Korean War. Familiar with military jargon, he had recognized that the Vietnam War was immoral, illegal, and plain stupid.
Fearing that Nicaragua might escalate into another Vietnam, Wayne wanted to acquire as much information about the situation in Nicaragua as he possibly could. A personal visit to that country, he felt, would be the best way to educate himself.
In 1987 he knew that veterans were traveling to Nicaragua to witness the war, and that delegations of adults from Augsburg College Center for Global Education were traveling to Central America to experience life in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries. He applied to the Center for Global Education to join their delegation and to the Veterans Peace Action Teams to participate in one of their witnessing tours.
In February 1987 Wayne was accepted to join a delegation from Augsburg College to visit El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In Nicaragua he found an open and free society with a freely elected government, which the United States government was actively trying to destabilize by providing aid to the terrorist contras. His worst suspicions were confirmed.
In October 1987 the Nicaraguan government announced a unilateral peace initiative allowing the contras free access into Nicaragua, provided they would refrain from using violence. United States veterans were invited to Nicaragua to monitor the situation, and Wayne was selected to be a member of that team. Of the 19 team members, some were experienced veterans who had lived in Nicaragua. These veterans were responsible for coordinating the team's actions. The team was allowed to visit areas where contras had infiltrated and where fire fights were taking place.
One of the team members was Foster Phillips, a Unitarian minister and a member of the Smedly Butler Brigade. He invited Wayne to become a member of the Brigade, and Wayne immediately paid his $10 membership fee.
During the trip back to the United States, Robert Livesey, a team member from Boston, proposed that the veterans should develop a humanitarian relief effort. He proposed that they should recruit a fleet of trucks, load them with humanitarian supplies, and drive them from different locations in the United States to a central meeting place in Texas. From there they would drive on through Mexico to Nicaragua. He suggested that Wayne could organize the effort in Minneapolis, someone else in Washington, and that he would get it started in Boston. Wayne was sceptical that the effort would ever get off the ground.
Upon his return to Minneapolis Wayne received a Veterans for Peace journal which featured an article about the Veterans Peace Convoy and how to start a local VFP chapter.
Wayne discussed starting a local VFP chapter with Ron Germanson, president of Veterans for Life, and he was open to the idea. Several men, including Wayne, Steve McKeown, John Fields, Jed Garhune, Jerry Rau, Joe Campbell, Roy Wolff, gathered in Ron's apartment. They needed ten veterans to apply for a chapter charter.
Ron Germanson served as Chapter 27th first president, and Steve McKeown as secretary. The group's first project was a Veteran's Peace Convoy which started in July, 1988 — just after the chapter's first 4th of July retreat. The chapter's contribution to the convoy was a van donated by Ralph Hilgendorf. Bob Koenig was the driver.
With the convoy project, Chapter 27 had been successfully launched. The rest of Chapter 27th history can be found in their newsletter archives and in the memories of their members.