By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Many Texans expressed strong
indignation Tuesday over the Lt.
William Galley court-martial ver
dict and some planned “sympa
thy marches” to give point to
their protest.
Telephone calls jammed switch
boards of newspapers and radio-
TV stations. Some people want
ed know where they could write
to Galley. Others asked if they
could reach him by phone.
Herby Williams, a quality con
trol engineer at Recognition
Equipment Inc., said most of the
1,100 persons employed at his
Dallas plant are angry at the
verdict.
“I was in the naval air service
in World War II,” Williams said,
“and I know what it is. Some
times things come up and you
can’t always explain why you
did or did not do a certain ac
tion. But this one looks real
rotten — it stinks to high heaven.
My faith in this country is dis
sipating a little and this certainly
doesn’t help it.”
A woman with two sons in San
Antonio, who did not want her
name used, said:
“If he’s guilty, I’m guilty, and
if you pay taxes, so are you. I
paid his way over there and I
paid for any training he re
ceived.”
She said she was going to
check Galley’s background to see
if he had served in the ROTC
Country
and, if he did, she planned to
pull her two sons out of the
corps immediately.
Ronald Mitchell, assistant di
rector in a self-help program for
minority groups, said in Fort
Worth:
“The verdict was ridiculous. If
Galley is guilty, then everyone
from the President on down is
guilty. I mean, this cat was
given orders. Mow, maybe he had
had a choice—either obey orders
or face a court-martial. He was
caught between a rock and the
hard place.”
H. W. King, a detective in the
Fort Worth Police Department,
called the verdict “an insult to
the whole nation.”
“You can’t train a man to fight
and then send him off thousands
of miles to fight, and then when
he kills someone, bring him back
home and try him for murder. If
he did something wrong, they
should just kick him out of the
Army,” said King.
A former military man now in
San Antonio who wouldn’t give
his name, thought the whole
thing blown out of proportion.
“We did the same type of
thing to the Indians, the Ger
mans did it to us in World War
II and we did it to Japan. It is
one of these things where you
have military and civilians mix
ing in the same thing.”
A woman said of Galley: “I
think he is guilty of killing those
people, but was he responsible
for what happened? I don’t feel
we’ll ever know — just the three
officers involved. I really feel
sorry for him as a mother . . .”
Another woman called The As
sociated Press in Dallas to say
she has a petition with 100 names
protesting the verdict and plans
on sending it to the court-martial
judge.
Jack Almack of Lubbock said
he is so incensed that he has
written to Washington demand
ing that his son be released from
service in the Navy. Almack, an
Air Force veteran himself, said
he considers the Galley verdict
wipes out his son’s military oath
to defend the country.
The insurance man said he had
sent his letter to President Nix
on, Vice President Agnew, Texas
senators and representatives, the
defense secretary, the Navy sec
retary, and members of the Sen
ate and House armed services
committees.
The Pecos Enterprise bitterly
expressed indignation in a front
page editorial comment.
Headed “Justice? Army or
Otherwise?” the Pecos editorial
read in part: “The Galley verdict
leaves us with a bad taste in the
mouth, a sinking in the heart
and a queasy stomach. Since
when is a soldier court-martialed
for failure to do his duty and is
court-martialed if he does ? How
can we ask our boys to go will
reacts same way
ingly to Vietnam, thousands of
miles away from home, without
bur full support and coopera
tion?”
Protest marches have been
planned for Wednesday in San
Antonio and for Friday in down
town Dallas.
The American Friends Service
Committee in the Alamo city
said it is inviting civilians and
military personnel to march to
the judge advocat generals’ of
fice at Ft. Sam Houston to pro
test what it called “making a
scapegoat” of Galley.
A spokesman claimed Galley’s
“showcase trial” was “a clear
attempt on the part of the U. S.
military and government ... to
cover up their collective and in
dividual guilt regarding the issue
of crimes against humanity in
the war in Southeast Asia.”
George Hughes Jr., an insur
ance broker who is organizing
the “sympathy march” Friday
from the Kennedy Memorial to
Dallas City Hall and back, said:
“There will be no speeches and
no trouble-making. This will be
just a march by the concerned
citizens of Dallas who feel that
Lt. Galley got a bum deal.”
Hughes, who served 20 years
in the Army and Air Force, said
he expects hundreds of veterans
to join in the march. But he said
they will wear civilian clothes
and not their uniforms.
Veterans groups reacted an
grily in Houston, too.
Jack Wolk, commander of
American Legion Post No. 644,
said he is “pretty angry” about
the verdict.
“I don’t like it a bit,” he said.
“These things happen over and
over. War is hell, that’s just the
way it is. The man did the job
he was told to do. They say
they can’t make you obey an un
lawful order, but they can sure
make you wish you had.”
John Danko, who commands
Houston American Legion Post
No. 560, said: “I think what he
did was more or less justified.
The soldiers there say they have
more trouble with the Vietnamese
people than with North Viet
namese armies. The trial should
not have been held in the first
place.”
In Austin, a housewife, Mrs.
W. R. Ferrell, said, “I even think
that the jury was not fully cer
tain of his guilt, because they
took such a long time to delib
erate and the verdict of guilty
was not unanimous.”
“The man was sent out to do
a job of search and destroy and
that’s exactly what he did. He
may have been guilty but he did
obey orders and do the job he
was ordered to do,” said Mrs.
Maurice Judy, Austin.
Adela Barnes, University of
Texas senior in sociology, said
she thought it was “unfortunate
to pinpoint one man. American
society as a whole is guilty be
cause we are involved in this
war.”
Mrs. Thomas Herron, wife of
a retired Air Force colonel in
Austin, said she thought Galley’s
conviction “is a disgrace. How
can you expect people to go to
war unless they follow orders?”
Page 2
THE BATTALION
College Station, Texas Wednesday, March 31,1}|
CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Fork
“Don’t pay any attention to Squirt—it’s just anothtr
one of his private calls!”
§
For all your insurance needs
See U. M. Alexander, Jr. '40
221 S. Main, Bryan
823-0742
Staite Farm Insurance Companies - Home Offices Bloomington, 111,
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'30 years
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Today,
has been
all sizes
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tion. F*
facturers
Vani
areavt
Public*
217. T
ing yc
1971.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Formal pleas for clemency,
countrywide petition campaigns
and angry speeches in the Con
gress marked the deep reaction
of many Americans Tuesday to
the murder conviction of Army
Lt. William L. Galley Jr., for his
part in the 1968 My Lai massa
cre.
In Georgia, all five members
of the Selective Service System’s
local board 30 in Athens resigned
under the lead of Chairman
Pugh, who termed the Galley ver
dict “unacceptable.”
“Our conscience will not allow
us to continue when our men are
treated like that,” said Pugh,
adding he hoped that other draft
boards throughout the country
“will follow suit” and resign.
U. S. Rep. William L. Dicken
son, R-Ala., said in a House
speech that he had sent a tele-,
gram to President Nixon asking
him to pardon Galley, and a reso
lution backing the petition was
up for consideration Wednesday
in the Alabama Legislature.
A separate resolution asking
for clemency was approved by
the Democratic Central Commit
tee in Ionia County, Mich., and
another was introduced in the
Illinois State House in Spring-
field.
At Ft. Benning, Ga., where
Galley was convicted Monday of
premeditated murder by a six-
man court martial jury, the local
Post 35 of the American Legion
said it was organizing two cam
paigns on Galley’s behalf — to
raise $100,000 for the cost of
appeals and another to collect
10 million signatures on petitions
protesting the verdict.
“We are recommending that
everyone write his congressman,
governor and the president . . .,”
said Jack Deese Post 35 senior
vice commander. “We are bit
terly opposed to the action taken
by the court-martial.”
Galley’s conviction was termed
“just” by Dr. Robert M. W.
Kempner, the deputy U. S. prose
cutor at the Nuernberg war
crimes trial, who was contacted
in Frankfurt, Germany.
He said the case should have
been tried before an international
tribunal.
Meanwhile, support for Galley
began to emerge in several cities
throughout the country.
In Pecos, Texas, the Enterprise
ran a front-page editorial Tues
day condemning Galley’s convic
tion. Radio Station WCKI in
Greer, S. C., said it was playing
“taps” several times an hour on
the air to show its disappoint
ment over the verdict.
The Galley verdict was greet
ed with angry speeches in Con
gress.
Rep. John R. Rarick, D-La.,
said parents in his district had
called him to say they would
never let their sons serve in an
Army that had abandoned its
fighting men.
“I’ve had veterans tell me that
if they were in Vietnam now,
they would lay down their arms
and come home,” he said.
Rep. John J. Flynt, D-Ga., said
the verdict constituted “a dan
gerous step toward destruction
of morale in the Army” and
could harm efforts to establish
an all-volunteer Army.
Bulletin Board
TONIGHT
Aggie Wives Bridge Club will
meet at 7:30 p.m. in room 2B
of the MSG.
Marketing Society will hold its
1971 Sales and Marketing Clinic
beginning at 9 a.m. in the As
sembly Room of the MSG.
Junior Class Council will meet
at 7:30 p.m. in room 113 of Na
gle Hall.
Intervarsity Christian Fellow
ship will meet at 7:30 p.m. in
room 304 of the Physics Build
ing.
THURSDAY
Canadian Club will meet at
7:30 p.m. at David and Bobby
Ayres’ home, 203 Davis in Bryan,
for an organizational meeting.
Marketing Society will meet at
7:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room
of the MSG to hear Tome Gale
of A. C. Neilson speak on
“The Competitive Edge—Market
ing Research.”
Numbers in
( ) denote chan-
6:30
3
(5)
Courtship of
nels on the cable.
Eddie’s Father
2:30
3
(5)
Edge of Night
15
(12)
Campus and
15
(12)
Sesame Street
Community
(PBS) (Repeat
Today
of Tuesday)
7:00
3
(5)
Room 222
3:00
3
(5)
Corner Pyle
15
(12)
NET Playhouse
3:30
3
(5)
Town Talk
7:30
3
(5)
To Rome With
15
(12)
University
Love
Instructional
8:00
3
(5)
Johnny Cash
4:00
3
(5)
That Girl
8:30
15
(12)
Soul (PBS)
4:30
3
(5)
Bewitched
9:00
3
(5)
Hawaii Five-0
15
(12)
What’s New
9:30
15
(12)
They Went
5:00
3
(5)
^ IN JCj ± )
General Hospital
Thataway (PBS)
15
(12)
Misterogers’
10:00
3
(5)
Final News
Neighborhood
10:30
3
(5)
The FBI
(PBS)
11:30
3
(5)
The Law and
6:00
3
(5)
Evening News
Mr. Jones
Bingo—Weekdays at 5, BCS*TV/9. Nothing to
buy. You need not be present to win.
Day students
ed to apply
urg
for OK early
Men students at Texas A&M
are urged to complete day stu
dent permit requests prior to the
fall preregistration period, re
ports Ed Morris, assistant hous
ing manager.
Students currently living off-
campus, regardless of the reason,
can save considerable time dur
ing the preregistration period by
having their day student permits
reactivated in advance, Morris
said.
Members of the corps who have
not previously applied for the
permits should see Malon South
erland in Military Science Room
105.
Civilian students must report
to the Housing Office in YMCA
Room 101.
€bt Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of
the student writers only. The Battalioti is a non-tax-
supported, non-profit, self-supporting educational enter
prise edited and operated by students as a university and
community newspaper.
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Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building,
College Station, Texas 77843.
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim
Lindsey, chairman ; H. F. Filers, College of Liberal Arts;
F. S. White, College of Engineering; Dr. Asa B. Childers, Jr.,
College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Z. L. Carpenter, College
of Agriculture; and Roger Miller, student.
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising
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The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is
published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through
May, and once a week during summer school.
MEMBER
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Mail subscriptions are S3.50 per semester; $6 per school
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EDITOR DAVID MIDDLEBROOKE
Assistant Editor Hayden Whitsett
Managing Editor Fran Zupan
Women’s Editor Sue Davis
Sports Editor Clifford Broyles