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today,” radio station KILT reported. “Marines Clobber Anti-War Demonstrators at Parade,” a Houston Chronicle front page headline advised. “Fine Loyalty Parade Slightly Marred by Peacenik Invasion,” a headline in the conservative Houston Tribune read. Marines fought “hand-to-hand with anti-war demonstrators,” the Houston Post story began. In the several days’ coverage after the fight the Houston papers regularly used the term “peacenik” in headlines and in news stories when referring to the pacifists. The parade had been announced in a half-page newspaper ad the day before, the message authored by Marine Maj. F. W. Sherburne, who devoted most of the space to quoting Gen. Douglas MacArthur on patriotism: ” . . . Seductive mumurs are arising that [patriotism] is now outmoded by some more comprehensive and all-embracing philosophy, that we are provincial and immature or reactionary and stupid when we idealize our own country; that there is a higher destiny for us under another and more general flag . . .” Sherburne said after the parade that he had ordered the Marines into the procession just ahead of the pacifists, telling them to hold the peace group back as the parade moved out. “Anyone could march,” Sherburne said, “even peaceniks, but we had the right of emplacement of units, and we put this Marine contingent in the rear. Other Marines marched farther up.’ The Marines, who are Reservists and had been attending drill that day, are under the command of Lt. Col. Hugh Hardy. He characterized the fight as “a civil act on civil time.” He said he would not investigate the matter unless ordered to. “When there is a call for patriotism, those who exhibit other than patriotism are inviting action jeopardizing their wellbeing,” Hardy said. “I’m real happy and proud of our men,” he added. 8 The Texas Observer COGSWELL FOR THE PEOPLE= BUMPER STICKERS FREE G R . 7 0 7 0 Box 7191, Austin, Texas 78712 AUSTIN MONTESSORI SCHOOL AUSTIN’S ONLY ACCREDITED MONTESSORI SCHOOL NOW TWO LOCATIONS 3307 EXPOSITION 4108 AVENUE H CL 2.0404 Helping break up the fight was the Marines’ inspector-instructor, Lt. Col. Karl E. Moore, who said “I rushed to the fighting scene and told the men to stop.” Moore said the Marines were there as individuals, not on duty and not obligated to obey military orders, “But the Marines, they will obey,” Moore explained. The Marines were not under Sherburne’s command at the parade, Moore said. “He might very well have made that suggestion to them [to interfere with the pacifists’ taking part in the parade], but they were under no obligation to obey,” said Moore. A M UNIDENTIFIED member of the Marine Reserve outfit, a private first class, told the Houston Post that his platoon, 40 men, was “told that we would have formation at the park and then we would join the parade. We normally let out at 5. We were dismissed at 3:15 [the parade began at 4]. We were never told it was voluntary. This was a sergeant, my platoon commander,” the Marine said. “We have never, in the time I’ve been there, been dismissed early for anything.” Colonel Hardy said the Marines “were told they would be released if they wanted to attend the parade. Other troops remained on the practice field. . . . They were not in any way ordered to attend” the parade, Hardy said. The Marine Corps sent an officer to Houston to investigate. The officer said he did not expect any disciplinary action as a result of his findings. In Washington the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Wallace M. Greene, Jr., issued a warning to Reservists: “Marine Corps Reserve personnel may participate in public events in uniform only in a duty status or otherwise authorized by proper authority.” Police officials disclaimed knowledge of any impending -trouble at the parade. Inspector Leroy Mouser, who was in -charge of police at the scene, said, “Not knowing who the peaceniks were, then how could we stick with them? Had we known that there was going to be trouble we would have been there. We were here to keep the peace and run the parade.” MOuser was questioned at the scene by a Houston Post reporter about the lack of policemen at an obvious trouble spot, as the n e wsman put it. Mouser asked to see the reporter’s press credentials and then asked the reporter if he would like to re peat his questions in front of a group of nearby American Legion members. At the conclusion of the parade the Legion’s Texas commander, Jack W. Flynt, Dimmit, spoke to a gathering at an outdoor theatre in the park, criticizing “beatniks and peaceniks who have done very little for America. . . . Let this serve as a warning to the beatniks and peaceniks that the only ‘isms’ we will permit in this country are patriotism and Americanism.” By “this,” Flynt evidently referred to the parade, not the Marines’ attack on the pacifists. After the fight one of the pacifists, Daniel Schacht, talked to five police officers, asking why they hadn’t helped break up the battle sooner. Schacht was arrested for failure to move on. Several other pacifists asked why he was being taken in; two of them, young girls, were pushed to the ground by one of the officers. One of the girls suffered a wrenched knee. The Houston Chronicle reported that she “admitted to newsmen that she had failed to move on when officers told her to stop blocking a police car.” At a city council meeting later in the week three hours’ debate transpired when a number of the pacifists protested ‘ to councilmen that the policemen on the scene should be disciplined. The council did not agree. “It’s like a bunch of cats going to a dog show and then complaining when they’re barked at,” said councilman Frank Mann. “The Marines didn’t do anything that 999 men out of 1,000 wouldn’t have done in their place,” councilman Bill Elliott, who had been on the scene, asserted. He agreed that the pacifists had been given permission to jpin the parade but said they should have been thrown out bodily to begin with. “Speaking as a good Navy man,” Elliot had said a few days before, “my faith in the Marine Corps is reaffirmed again. They decided to teach these birds what it means to be an American.” Mayor Louie Welch was out of town but his executive assistant, Eugene Gatlin, when asked by reporters if there had been any criticism of police for failure to protect the demonstrators, said, “There was no need for the police. The Marines were there.” Most of the letters published by Houston newspapers after the incident were critical of the Marines and the police. The Post editorialized that .the Marines and the policemen were at fault. G. 0. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Committee to End the War in Vietnam STATEWIDE PARADE FOR PEACE SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1:00 P.M. Beginning at the corner of Congress Avenue and First Street in Austin, and parading to the Capitol. Carl Oglesby will address the rally at the Capitol.