Dave Cline…
…was a friend and comrade. He died last night at home.
Dave was former President of Veterans For Peace, founding leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founder of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign.
He was prominently featured in the film Sir, No Sir!, a film about GI resistance during the Vietnam occupation, reviewed recently by DeAnander on this site.
I met Dave when a handful of us began the Bring Them Home Now! campaign in 2003. He came across like a Jersey street person. He drank and smoked to excess, even though his health was under assault from a lifetime of hardship and ill health, beginning with disabling combat wounds from Vietnam. This first impression was deceptive. He had one of the sharpest political intuitions of anyone I’ve ever known. He was a mentor of the first order, and a patient, fearless revolutionary.
A lot of people knew Dave longer and better than me; and it is they who have the wherewithall and right to pen the fullness of his epitaph.
I just want to acknowledge this loss and his example, because I owe him very much.
The last time I was with Dave was during the six-day hike and caravan from Mobile, AL to New Orleans, LA in March 2006, during the Veterans and Survivors March for Peace and Justice. Dave was a wildly eclectic music afficionado, and he named the march after the New Orleans native Fats Domino’s song: Walkin’ to New Orleans. Dave was also a tremendous admirer of Dr. Martn Luther King; and Dave paraphrased Dr. King’s words to make the motto of the march: Every bomb dropped over Iraq Explodes along the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Dave told an interviewer during the march that he was old and crippled, that it was hot and his feet hurt… and that there was nowhere else he’d rather be. He, as much as anyone, was responsible for conceptualizing that march/caravan, because Dave Cline understood that the war in Iraq, the war in Vietnam, the Black Freedom Struggle, and the treatment of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina were all intimately connected; and that we were duty bound to make those connections clear.
He looked fragile as a ghost then, rail thin with trembling hands and the bones pushing out against his face. But neither his words nor his actions were ever self-indulgent. His every thought was for a social revolution, that is, for a future where joy is embraced, creativity is encouraged, and suffering is minimized for all people.
What he did not see, and something he desperately wanted to see, was an end to the war in Iraq. Now we have to see that for him; and when that time comes we will not feel triumph, for who can triumph at the end of such a horror.
Something they should never drum into soldiers is the idea of honor, because people like Dave Cline will take that seriously and try to live honorably.
When we finally succeed in stopping this war — and we will, because we will never quit opposing it — we can feel that we were honorable in our persistence, and to Dave Cline we can offer gratitude for his example.
Roll Call. David Cline… David Cline… David Cline…
Presente!
audrey:
I’m at a loss, Stan.
I know from your emails that you shared something with Dave that went beyond just two organizers working together on a campaign.
I knew him just from the gulf march, and from running into him a couple of times after that. The thing that struck me when he was talking was that he was always tying veterans’ rights to the larger picture of human rights. If he talked about Agent Orange, he was talking about all the victims of it, not just the soldiers who were exposed. What you said about him drawing the connections between the struggles of various people in ways that not everyone sees, that is also what sticks in my own vision of him.
I’m glad I had a chance to know him a little. And I’m trying not to be angry that it seems like we’ve come full circle right back to where we were when he started as an activist, reliving the same exact issues.
15 September 2007, 5:04 pmDennis:
Stan–
Thanks. A powerful comment, especially the part about honor.
I also wrote a short piece on Dave at Fire on the Mountain and crossposted it at DailyKos where it’s on the rec list and where someone has linked to this in the comments section…
STAN: Thanks for picking up the phone today, Dennis. He left things better than he found them.
15 September 2007, 6:42 pmedgery:
Thank you for this post. I knew Dave from marches and rallies in Washington, not well enough, but learning of his passing today, I realize now how much he has meant to me over the years. He was warm and welcoming, to grieving parents and young vets, to over-excited teens and angry ex-hippies (like me). I remember one conversation when I said something like, haven’t we marched and shouted and rallied enough? His response, with a slight smile, not as long as politicians keep sending the best of our country to their deaths or treat the least of our country like animals. Dave’s sense of honor and decency make him a hero in my eyes.
15 September 2007, 8:39 pmGordon Soderberg:
I met David in July of 2004. It was my first Veterans For Peace convention in Boston. I had just joined the organization and drove out from California in the Spirit of Garberville Veterans For Peace Bus to support the creation of IVAW.
I was inspired by his ability to be direct and cut through the bull that often comes with peace organizations and the differences of opinions and egos involved. I was impressed by the fact that he made me feel that although the struggles we faced were hard and sometimes fruitless, they were always worth while.
I did not see him again until 2005, when I drove out to the next VFP convention in Impeachment Tour Bus Dallas, TX. While there, we had our own differences of opinion about how to support Cindy Sheehan’s goal of meeting with the Shurb in Crawford. But even when we were at odds with each other, he always listened and respected me, even though I did not treat him the same way. When it came to the end of Cindy’s vigil in Crawford hurricane Katrina was about to hit New Orleans and we began to plan a relief effort. Again we had our differences about weather Veterans For Peace should be doing a relief effort. Again even though we disagreed and I got very mad and yelled a cussed him out, he always respected our dedication to do something.
After he came to New Orleans to see what we were doing and met with Malik Rahim and Common Ground in October and again in November of 2005, he saw that what we were doing was in fact both a peace action and relief effort. Though we still yelled at each other about tactics, he always was willing to listen and supported our efforts.
The next spring during the March form Mobile to New Orleans we were able to come together on tactics and mission and share a week with without a single argument. Maybe we had come to some sort of understanding without saying anything about what had come between us in the past. I’ll never know. Maybe I had grown up a little by then. That was the last time I saw him. He was happy and he was in impressive to watch as he encouraged the IVAW members to take a leadership role in the March to New Orleans and he did not speak in public until the last day in Congo Square. Then he spoke of our efforts volunteering to help rebuild the gulf coast when the National Guard was in Iraq. He gave credit to those of us who did did what many would not.
He was a true leader and supporter at the same time. Of all the people I have met before or since in the peace and relief movement, he has was the most inspiring to me. And though we never had a chance to talk about what came between us I’m not sad about it. I know that it did not matter to him, because he was always about the supporting the mission and anyone who was willing to stand on a line even if the tactics being used were in dispute at the time. I will alway remember that. And I guess, that is what he would want. Thank you David, Lead on!
16 September 2007, 12:26 amJames M:
It wasn’t too hard to tell, in my very brief time in Dave Cline’s orbit, that his health was less than optimal. But also, he was quite evidently animated by an uncommon vibrancy of spirit & sense of purpose that made his physical frailties seem immaterial. The photo you have up, to my mind, seems just perfectly emblematic of that.
The thing I remember most was how excited he was to take in the energy of the Black Baptist churches we attended, and how he did his best to transmit that energy back to us in the form of “Hallelujah”’s and “Amen”’s and “Can I get a witness?” As strange as it may have sounded coming from a white guy from Jersey, none of us doubted his sincerity, and we all were enlivened by it.
History will remember him as a brave and righteous voice of conscience. It was a privilege to have shared just a small portion of the road he walked.
16 September 2007, 1:05 amStan:
Dennis O’Neil introduced me to Dave, and he talked me through a few tears yesterday. His comments (posted at DKos) below are worth repeating here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/15/184813/758
There is a link in the comments section to the youtube video of Soldier, we love you, sung by Rita Martinson, from the film De reviewed here just a couple of weeks ago, Sir, No Sir!. Here is that youtube link. It is a perfect sendoff for Dave. I am so pleased that De wrote this review and reminded me of this beautiful performance.
16 September 2007, 5:54 amStan:
from IVAW
http://www.ivaw.org/node/1714
16 September 2007, 7:51 amLisandro E Rivera:
Goodby Compañero,
I’ll never forget the day in 1999 when we met in Vieques, Puerto Rico. You came with this bunch of great people Gene Glazer, Gideon Rosenblum, the Vazquez brothers among them. Your solidarity and constant help and advise will not be forgotten. How can I forget the help you gave to Rolando, one of the many victims of the more of 40 years of bombings in Vieques. You took him to the best Drs in NYC. How can we forget all the meetingswhere you presented the struggle of the Puerto Ricans against the abusive presence of the US Navy in Vieques, your voice serve as a loudspeaker of our struggle. But the longer I knew you the more you impressed me, your antiimperialistics positions, your defense of the veterans, and your devoted search for peace made you an example for all of us. You are a true soldier for peace, the USA and the world lost a great man and citizen.
16 September 2007, 12:01 pmYou’ll live in the struggle.
Peace Bro. Un abrazo,
Lisandro (Andy) Rivera
Wm. Terry Leichner:
Stan,
I marched with Dave without knowing him during Dewey Canyon III, I marched with him in D.C. following Camp Casey (Sept 05) and I marched with him during the march from Mobile to New Orleans in the Veterans and Survivors March. I feel blessed to have been in the company of one of our true American heroes; a man willing to stand up in the face of his country’s misguided and immoral actions.
Dave personified the “winter soldier” unwilling to give up his country to the evil of racism, imperialism, misogyny and the many tyrannical forces attempting to usurp “the people”.
I have photos I was fortunate enough to take that caught the passion and the joy that resided in the heart of Dave. His smile was one that lighted up a room or a field he was standing in with a circle of comrades just wanting to be near him.
Besides the powerful words Dave spoke to end the oppression he clearly saw in the actions of his country’s “leaders”, my lasting memory of Dave will be on the march to New Orleans near the Vietnamese section we stayed at before going to Congo Square.
A young woman had a small harmonica on a key ring which Dave happened to notice as we were taking a break on the roadside leading into NOLA. Dave asked her if he could see the harp and when she gave it to him he broke into a blues riff and seemed to almost be dancing as he played.
After Dave stopped playing with those of us standing around him laughing and amazed, he flashed a big grin at us.
I know there are so many that knew Dave much better than I did but the short time I did have being around him gave me reason to know I was in the presence of a brother who cared about people, cared about injustice and cared about more young brothers and sisters being exposed to the horrors of war once again for no legitimate reason.
I also know Dave cared about the people of the world that became victims of our aggression and insane dependence on violence by means of an arsenal of weapons capable of killing in every gruesome way imaginable.
Dave’s advocacy for not only veterans but the Vietnamese people afflicted by the American use of Agent Orange was testimony of his belief we are citizens of the world before anything else.
I thank Dave and Stan for emphasizing that citizenship throughout the march to New Orleans.
I got word in the darkness of the night which my own personal insomnia often take me to that Dave had passed. Despite the few times I had to be around him, I felt I’d lost member of my family…a brother. I realize today that’s exactly what Dave was. He was our family.
I woke this morning and looked at the headlines of the mainstream newspaper and the idea the passing of the American hero, Dave Cline, was missing in the pages of that paper stung me like a slap in the
face.
We are the keepers of the light of freedom Dave Cline kept burning. We have his example of perseverance and enduring passion for justice to honor and keep alive.
If there is any monument Dave Cline would want most, it seems it would be a unified movement carrying on the struggle he so righteously exemplified.
As I remember Dave yelling in a church we visited during the veterans and survivors march….”Can I get a witness!!”.
Be at rest, Brother Dave. Let us take it from here.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
16 September 2007, 1:16 pmDenver VVAW member
USMC combat veteran ‘67-68 (RVN)
Bill Megalos:
Last year I spent an afternoon with David at Pershing Field in Jersey City. We were interviewing him for a film about Agent Orange. It was unbelievably hot but he insisted on doing the interview at the Jersey City Vietnam Vet Memorial, outside. He was patient, very informative and passionately brilliant, or brilliantly passionate, you choose. As we were interviewing David, children started gathering and we managed to shush them long enough to get the interview we needed, but by far the high point was the way David engaged and educated those kids, telling them about a war they’d never heard of and getting them to think about war and its costs for the first time. If anyone has a server, I’d be happy to post some footage of David with these kids.
16 September 2007, 11:28 pmDon Albares:
Stan,
I never met David, but I feel as though he were a part of my life.
I will miss his leadership, his inspiration, his courage, his energy and his spirit.
Rest in peace, dear brother…your long war is finally at an end.
D.J. Albares Jr.
17 September 2007, 12:04 amVVAW, VFP San Diego
US Army - El Salvador 1981
Masako Sakata:
Dear Friends,
I was so suddened with the news of David’s passing away.
I and Bill Megalos met him last July in Memorial Park in Jersey City. It was a very hot summer day.
We interviewed him for the film we were making “Agent Orange- a personal requiem”.
I had lost my husband three years earlier with causes related to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. I had to find out why he had to die, which resulted in this film.
David was so eloquent in describing his horrible experiences in Vietnam, and very clear in pointing out the the wrongs of US government and corporate interests. He had visited Vietnam some months earlier, met Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, and was very much involved in activities in helping them out.
While we were interviewing him on the park lawn, many children gathered around us, curious what was going on.
When the interview was over, David took the children to the memorial statue where the names of the soldiers lost in Vietnam war were engraved. He explained what wars were about, and how we should never repeat it. At one point, he lifted his shirt to show the children the scars from his Vietnam days. I remember the gasps uttered from wide-eyed children. Then David was surrounded with many many questions from the children, each of which, he replied in a clear and persuasive way. I am sure 20 to 30 children who were in the park that day will carry the meories of David and what he had to say to their adulthood. These are the things that will change the course of the world, I hope.
He is not among us, but what he has done will keep on living and will guide us in our continuing efforts to somehow make this world a better place to live.
I was very lucky to have known him.
My deepest condolences to his wife, whom I met only briefly in the park that day, who supplied us with nice cold bottles of water, which was so appreciated on that hot summer day in 2006.
Masako Sakata
17 September 2007, 2:05 amFilmmaker
Linda c:
I can’t cry tears because I’m setting at my desk at work. It’s not that they aren’t there - I would never be able to explain the tears for this MAN that I never met and did not know.
My son and I “chalked” a peace symbol on the sidewalk at the Clinton Library Saturday. Beneath the symbol I put BTHN. When asked what those initials stood for - I told everyone “All of my daughters friends in Iraq”. If I had know about this MAN I would have said “For Dave”.
17 September 2007, 8:03 amJon Levine:
This memory of Dave was recently posted on the Sept. 15 Fire on the Mountain ‘blog memorial where a number of friends have shared their thoughts.
The People’s Organization for Progress, the North Jersey-based African-American community organization that pulled together the Peace & Justice Coalition of over 130 groups, the alliance which sponsored the recent People’s March for Peace, Equality, Jobs & Justice, has begun discussing a fitting memorial tribute to our friend David Cline along with recently deceased POP member and supporter, Gene Glazer. One idea is a showing of “Sir, No Sir!” at a major venue with the Peace & Justice Coalition, as well as other anti-war groups.
On a personal note, Dave’s passing is a loss of almost incalculable magnitude. He was, along with his close friend, fellow veteran and VVAW member, the late Clarence Fitch, a major influence on my life. Both of these guys shaped my tactics as well as strategy in the anti-war movement, the labor movement and the popular efforts to defeat racism and national oppression in the U.S.
Their humanistic approach to fighting capitalism taught reams more than textbooks or theoretical journals to many young activists in the 1970s. And here we are, a full generation later with scores of the self-appointed theoretical leaders of that era having long-ago abandoned the struggles of the people. DC’s example of life-long activism, even through a series of personal health crises that would lead most of us to think only of ourselves, is one we all must learn from. It is our job to continue the many battles that only his untimely demise could force him to abandon.
-Jon Levine
17 September 2007, 4:35 pmPeople’s Organization for Progress
—and—
Alan Reilly-Gene Glazer Chapter 021
Veterans For Peace
DeAnander:
I sure wish I had known him.
17 September 2007, 4:43 pmStan:
Here is the Spearpoint series I did on the Gulf March. Lots of pix. Included among them are Dave Cline and Gene Glazer. (I called Audrey a military family member in one part… my bad… Audrey is an Army vet.)
Spearpoint PART 1
17 September 2007, 6:13 pmSpearpoint PART 2
Spearpoint PART 3
Spearpoint PART 4
Billy Kelly:
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
General Douglas MacArthur
The old General had it wrong. Soldiers do die. But the ‘Winter Soldier’ does not fade away and go easily into the night. David was/is the epitome of that soldier. He always was and will be a true soldier. Always leading the fight.
For many years he was our ‘Commander in Chief’. A real one; one who led from the front. I was extremely proud to have known him and will rededicate myself to continuing the fight.
Many of us ‘old’ and ‘not-so-old’ soldiers will wage the real war. The one to bring decency and humanity to our people and to show our brothers and sisters in the world that we are one with them.
The guidon will be picked up and carried proudly. IVAW carries it now. There will be no gap in our lines.
“I’m still a soldier. I’m just not ‘their’ soldier anymore.” Stan Goff
(Pace Stan, I think I have the gist of it.)
We’ll all be telling stories about David for years to come and in that way we will ensure he remains with us and will always be an integral part of ‘our’ army.
Recently, David accompanied several Viet victims of Agent Orange on a trip to meet some politicos in DC. On the bus trip home, David, in his inimitable way, began to compare wounds with a seriously ill former opponent. The next day at a gathering of supporters, David presented this ex-Viet Cong soldier his Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf clusters. Nguyen Van Quy was delighted and so proud to have it pinned onto his suit. It was a gesture that could only come from David.
Sadly, Quy and another on the trip, Nguyen Thi Hong, died from Agent Orange complications soon after returning to Viet Nam.
And now David. Solidarity? Presente!!
Hoa Binh,
Billy Kelly
17 September 2007, 6:37 pm‘A Combat Veteran For Peace; Not An Oxymoron’
Patrick McCann:
I could tell you hundreds of stories about Dave, but I will save them for when we’re together in person. The real deal is that we should make the American people, and people around the world, know of his contributions to peace. There is NO single American, perhaps no single human, who has contributed more to the fight against the war WITH (not in) Iraq. We need to think large, and even make the bourgeois media give him the respect he deserves. To quote the Godfather of soul, “Say it loud!”
17 September 2007, 7:17 pmDeborah Mutnick:
I met Dave in the 1980s when I was active in the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. His commitment to peace and social justice for all people then, as before and more recently, set a shining example for the rest of us. I remember standing one chilly night in midtown Manhattan in a peace vigil with him and other vets trying to keep our candles lit. He will live on for a very long time because so many of us carry him with us in our hearts and memories and words.
Deborah Mutnick
17 September 2007, 8:30 pmWilliam Nemcik:
Stan,
I never thought I would ever be writing this sort of comment; I had a gut feeling that he was immortal, too significant and valuable to just simply pass away as mere mortals do. Yes, it is a great loss, in a world where the left is lost in postmodern self complacency and conceited discourses; he was the real thing, a true and straightforward revolutionary.
17 September 2007, 9:05 pmMadelyn:
The news of Dave Cline’s death hit me like a tidal wave. I began to work as Director of NJ Peace Action in Montclair, New Jersey in August 2000. Dave Cline spent many hours helping me to understand the different elements of the peace movement and the differences between the peace movement and the anti-war movement. He encouraged me to find ways to reach out to the community of veterans whose experiences convinced them in some cases to be against all wars and in other cases to be against particular wars. He helped to demystify the issues surrounding the problem of the use of depleted uranium. He explained what strategies and tactics reached people and what strategies and tactics turned them away. He stood by me and NJ Peace Action post 9/11 when some people called our office constantly, calling us anti-American and trying to discourage us from speaking out for peace. He made sure that NJ Peace Action worked with Gold Star Families for Peace and Cindy Sheehan’s organization in organizing a stop in Newark on her national bus tour in September 2004.
Dave was a no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase kind of guy, who was ALWAYS doing whatever he could to encourage, inspire, guide and inform. His speeches never failed to move me and others — and his dedication to the cause of peace was unwavering.
I last saw Dave at the United for Peace and Justice Conference in Chicago this past June — a conference I almost did not attend. In retrospect, I am grateful that NJ Peace Action convinced me to attend. The Conference was great and the experiences memorable — but top on my list of important moments was having the opportunity to hug Dave Cline one more time, to share moments of activism with him and to hear him speak out against the war and for the importance of unity —
Dave Cline, New Jersey will miss you….and I will miss your down-to-earth, tell it like it is, way of addressing issues of war and peace, life and death. We will carry on!!!
17 September 2007, 11:18 pmStan:
If we do not
speak of it others
will surely rewrite
the script. Each
of the body bags
all of the mass
graves will be
opened and their
contents abracadabraed
into a noble cause.
-Vietnam Veteran George Swiers
18 September 2007, 6:21 amGordon Soderberg:
David Clines speech at Congo Square New orleans March 20th 2006 on the third Anniversary of the war on Iraq.
http://neworleansvfp.ning.com/video/video/show?id=724261%3AVideo%3A3144
I hope it helps get people to think about the cost of war and its effects here at home.
Gordon
P.S.
Please let everyone know that there are still veterans down here working on what David Cline was attempting to inspire with his speech and we could use some help.
18 September 2007, 9:46 amCraig:
Dave Cline spoke to Grover Furr’s class some years ago. Look for links here.
While I’m here, I’m wondering if there are any references readily available for this intriguing passage from Capitalism is against the law–the law of thermodynamics ( 2): “Many historians speculate that had it not been for the USSR, there would have been three, four, or more world wars between the industrialized capitalist metropoles, but the US-USSR standoff, renegotiated during WWII for reasons this article will not dwell on, created a bipolar world that served as the impetus for the development of ‘free-world multilateralism.’” Thanks.
18 September 2007, 9:55 amSylvia Zisman:
I first met Dave Cline at a meeting in the St John’s Church in Elizabeth
18 September 2007, 7:55 pmshortly after the end of Desert Storm.He gathered a group of Agent Orange and DU
victims to speak out and we saw
a brief film on the use of DU.This meeting alerted us to the problems returning vets face. Sylvia Zisman,NJ H/N Remembrance Committee
Danielle Zora:
Stan - I wanted to reach out to you- what a loss! When I left NC to go to NJ I ran into DC at a forum at Rutgers that I think I was one of only 2 or 3 others in the audience and some of the panelists had not showed up. I had not seen him in 20 plus years and he looked like hell but so do I. He was good natured about the whole non-event and actually very inspiring and kind to me. I have not seen him since but I feel his loss profoundly. I just read about his death and Bill’s a few minutes ago and can not control tears. All my love to all who will miss him. All my compassion for healing the hole he has left in the struggle and all my respect for all that he built.
20 September 2007, 2:29 amChris:
There’s little consolation for losing someone so vital. And I agree, he’ll be remembered as a giant. But the virtual memorials in existence right now, and cited here, feel real enough to bring the tears back.
I knew about Dave for years, and finally met him when I started writing my a book (still in progress) about soldiers who dissent. His death reminded me not to retain the illusion that any of us have any time.
23 September 2007, 10:43 amLiz:
In March of 2005 in Fayetteville watched Dave talking with other veterans about their struggles to stay whole and sometimes forgive themselves. What an extraordinary man.
1 October 2007, 5:07 amjoe madero:
i first met Dave at work back in 1974. We were members of the postal union ( n y metro) and a radical splinter group called the outlaw. he was a great shop steward, and fearless fighter for workers rights. we worked together at pay loc. 265 for four years, and I regret none of it. We did everything we could to make management miserable. we lost our job in the wildcat strike of ‘78, and shut the place down for four days, and I don t regret that either. I came out to California in ‘80, lost contact with dave and alot of my union comrades. On Feb 2 2008, I decided to look him up on the Internet, and I found him, but too late. Wish I could of talked to him one more time. but Dave, if you can here me, I haven t held a job for 25 years, still fight the system, and death to the capitalist ” worker solidarity will be great…. we shut you down in ‘78″ left right lay-Ho
2 February 2008, 5:26 pm