Report: Aug 6-9 Vigil of Repentance outside DM Drone Command Center for US War Crimes - from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to US Killer Drones, remembering the 75th Anniversary of US Atomic bombings.
Frank Cordaro
Starting on Thurs, August 6 at 8 a.m.; the time the United States dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and ending on Sun. Aug 9th at 11 a.m.; the time the United States dropped a 2nd A-bomb on Nagasaki Japan, Eddie Bloomer and I maintained a constant 24 hr. presence at the entrance of the IA Air National Guard Drone Command Center at 3100 McKinley Ave. DM IA Iowa. No small accomplishment for two old guys. We weathered the rain, the wind and the beating Sun. We sleep in our sleeping bags between the fence line and road. The nights were bright enough to read by from the lights of the base and the noise of traffic & planes was on top of us, with the smell of diesel oil in the air, more from planes than cars. We found ways to ‘do our business’. The last ½ of the vigil the winds were so bad we had to lay our banners on the ground. The time in deed was penance bearing but not without its blessings and surprises.
Thank you’s to fellow DMCW Ruth who spent a night, and did vigil time during the days with us. . And a big thanks’ to my brother Joe! Joe lives 200 yards from the based entrance across an empty grass field. Joe was our ‘go for’ guy. Got us stuff we needed, brought us breakfast from McDonalds’ and took the photos! Family! It’s always good to have ‘blood in the game’.
Hat’s off to Rev Chet Guinn (92 yrs old!) and Eloise Cranke for showing up on Fri. They showed up at the same time as Mary Ann Kock, our beloved new DMCW book keeper & DM social activist. Also joining the Fri crowd was Kirk Johnson and his daughter from the DM Black Lives Matter movement. We hit our critical mass of 7 people, the largest # of people attending the vigil at any one time.
We did not reach the critical mass of 7 again until the wrap up session on Aug. 9th, where we read Thomas Merton’s Original Child Bomb poem on Hiroshima A bombing. See: https://inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/hiroshima-original-child-bomb-by-thomas-merton/
Thank you’s to Jerry and Sharon Donovan for showing up for the end. And to Joe Jadryev from the IA City VFP. Joe traveled the furthest for the vigil.
No one risked arrest. We’re not wanting to add to an already dangerous overcrowded jail population in these Covid19 times.
See photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frank_cordaro_and_the_dm_catholic_worker/albums/72157715428075148
The biggest surprise for me during the vigil was meeting Tobias. It was Sat. night, our last night of the vigil. The Sun had gone down. Eddied and I were in our yard chairs, recovering from the hot winds & Sun of a day of vigiling. And down the road, walking towards us came Tobias, a young man in his mid-20’s. He sat down and we proceeded to have a long conversation in the cool winds of early evening.
Tobias had just become a Catholic. He told us he heard of Dorothy Day and the CW movement and was interested in volunteering. Both Eddie and I perked up. Tobias told us he used to be a social worker. He had his BA in Psychology. He wanted to move up in the social worker world but needed a Master’s Degree. He could not pay for grad school with his minimum wage job in social work so he learned how to work with computers and now works at Media Com. hoping to get a Master’s Degree with the extra money he now makes.
I then asked Tobias how he learned to work with computers.
He then told us with a big smile on his face, he joined the National Guard! This changed everything. We came to find out Tobias was one month away from being deployed to Kosovo for a year on a NATO mission. He was very much aware of Catholic Church Teachings on War and Peace. And he could not see himself killing another person.
After spending a couple hours talking on a wider range of issues. We got to know Tobias better and he us. I believe Tobias is a conscientious objector in his heart already and now needs to act on it. I told him when he got to Kosovo find the people doing the works of mercy. I also told him to continue his journey following his heart and act on his convictions. I look forward to staying connected with Tobias. What a gift!
From our flyer:
This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the United States’ atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The bombings of these two unarmed cities in Japan in August 1945 is claimed to have brought a “speedy end” to World War II. This claim is spurious, and these two bombings were United States war crimes, as were the massive city bombings of all the major cities in Germany and Japan that led to the end of World War II, and to this day, they remain unrecognized and unrepented war crimes.
The problem with unrecognized and unrepented war crimes is that the lies used to cover them up become more deadly and criminal than the crime they are covering up. The justifications used for the murder of Japanese civilians become the justification for the murder of Vietnamese civilians, Iraqi civilians, and Yemeni civilians.
Since 1945, the United States military and CIA have committed countless criminal acts of war against nations all over the world. No other county comes close to our 75-year run. See: Map of US Military and CIA Interventions since World War 2 https://williamblum.org/intervention-map
Today in Des Moines, Iowa, we allow members of our Iowa Air National Guard to murder people in the Middle East with armed drones, guided and controlled from a computer at the Drone Command Center on the south side of Des Moines. They do this in broad daylight with the full blessing and support of Iowans.
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1st Annual - Aug 6-9, 2018 Vigil at St Ambrose Cathedral postings - Drone Command Center Campaign https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/dmcw-community-list/JL8DLdR-F40
2nd Annual - Aug 6-9, 2018 Vigil at St Ambrose Cathedral postings - Drone Command Center Campaign https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/dmcw-community-list/ClhuShfmNas
3rd Annual Aug 9th 2019 Rally & Direct Action @ Drone Command Center, two DMCW'ers arrested .....
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/iowa-peace-list/Aug$206%7Csort:date/iowa-peace-list/YF1pxM-PmIQ/_TPO9wtxAAAJ
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2019 DM Drone Campaign’s Postings
https://frankcordaro.wordpress.com/2019/11/28/2019-dm-drone-campaigns-postings/
2018 DM Drone & Billboard Campaigns’ Postings
https://frankcordaro.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/2018-dm-drone-campaign-postings/
2017 DM Drone campaign postings starting May 11 …
https://frankcordaro.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/previous-dm-drone-campaign-postings-starting-may-11-to-july-22-2017/
DMCW You Tube beg ( 2 min 40 sec).
https://youtu.be/1Yb-wWYtjrM
DM Catholic Worker web page (new)
http://desmoinescatholicworker.com/
Follow the DMCW FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/DesMoinesCatholicWorker/
1976-2020 via pacis archives
https://viapacis.wordpress.com/
Frank Cordaro's Writings and Archives by yr 1976 - 2020
https://frankcordaro.wordpress.com/
FC's FB page
https://www.facebook.com/frank.cordaro
