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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 [270], Lines: ——— 1.0pt ——— Normal * PgEnds: [270], 16. Fugitives from Injustice Vietnam War Draft Dodgers and Deserters in British Columbia Renée G. Kasinsky It was a typically wet January day in Vancouver, British Columbia, when three American deserters set out together to hitchhike to parts of eastern Canada in early 1970. They had heard from the rumor mill that there it was easier to get jobs in order to qualify for permanent residence status. Little did they suspect that they would find themselves that very evening in the custody of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (rcmp) officers, who would deliver them across the American border at the Sumas crossing into the hands of the United States Shore Patrol. In short order their world had been turned upside down again. They were very far from their original destinations and no longer in the free zone north of the fortyninth parallel. In the course of forty-eight hours they had been illegally deported from Canada, placed in a Navy patrol van, and sent to the military stockade at Fort Ord, California. Of all the allegations of deserters being “shanghaied” across the border by Canadian officials cooperating with their American counterparts, this case alone has been publicly documented. It resulted in a federal judicial inquiry in Canada. The three protagonists in this case were Army deserters who had enlisted under the pressure of the draft. None had completed high school, and no one was over twenty-two years old. In almost all ways they were This chapter was originally published in Refugees from Militarism: Draft-Age Americans in Canada (New Brunswick nj: Transaction Publishers, 1976). Reprinted by permission of Transaction Publishers. Copyright © 1976 by Transaction Publishers. Fugitives from Injustice | 271 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 [271], (25) Lines: 341 to ——— 0.0pt PgV ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [271], (25) typical of the backgrounds of most deserters in Canada. John Kreeger came from Chico, California, an affluent community, although his family lived on welfare allotments. “My mother’s a poor person living in a rich person’s world,” John said. In high school John’s teachers and counselors made it clear to him that he was “wasting their time and that he could be serving his time in the Army and saving the taxpayers’ money.” Despite his protests, he was dropped from the school rolls and subsequently channeled into the military. He did not enlist, however, until he received his notice of induction. Upon enlisting in the Army, he made it clear that he would do “anything but the infantry.” From the outset John never wanted to be a soldier, hoping he would receive a discharge for being excessively awol. During the time he was awol, he traveled in underground circles where he met many other awol gis who were also trying to get out of the service. He survived by getting odd jobs and living off charity. John eventually met some people from the resistance in the San Francisco area and obtained access to the Manual for DraftAge Immigrants to Canada. His attitude regarding desertion began to undergo a change. The first times he went awol he was told by those around him that it was a crime to desert from the Army; then he was being commended for his actions. John said of the resistance people: “They were strong leftists, and they felt that you were doing your part for the country when you go awol and desert. . . . It began to occur to me that it’s really a crime to kill people in Vietnam. The government’s been committing a crime in Vietnam.” Since John had been awol so long, he was convinced he would go to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary if he returned to the Army. So he made the decision to “split” to Canada. He made use of the contacts of the underground railroad, staying in various homes of sympathizers along the western seaboard. He crossed the Canadian border illegally as a visitor on January 16, 1970. In Vancouver, John received immigration counseling at the Vancouver Committee to Aid American...

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