Vietnam War workshop at
the RAF Museum, Cosford,
UK
Friday, 30th September
2016.
Some months ago Rolling
Thunder had an
unexpected invitation
from the RAF Museum at
Cosford to attend a
Vietnam War workshop.
Although it is not
unknown for a national
museum to seek the
active participation of
re-enactors, I believe
it to be a first for
‘Rolling Thunder’
and a clear indication
of the high regard and
respect which our
re-enactment group is
held in.
Whilst details were at
first sketchy, with so
many more Schools
encompassing the Cold
War as part of their
history curriculum, it
soon became clear that
the workshop would
require the involvement
of a Vietnam anti-war
protestor and a G.I.
with a pro-war stance.
So with much of my
anti-war paraphernalia
packed, off we trundled
into the night for the
long journey to
Shropshire ready for an
early start the next
day.
If you’ve never been
to Cosford yourself, it
is still very much an
active RAF base which at
it’s heart resides the
imposing and
award-winning building
that houses the National
Cold War Museum. And it
has to be for not only
is it now the only place
in the world where you
can view examples of all
three of the RAF’s
‘V’ bombers
alongside one another,
(Valiant, Vulcan and
Victor), it also
displays a huge array of
NATO and Warsaw pact
military hardware.
Some would say that by
setting-up my anti-war
display alongside the
MAD pod, (see attached
image), it says a lot
more about my character
than explaining the
development of atomic
and nuclear weapons and
the concept of Mutually
Assured Destruction!
Inevitably, my presence
in the Museum as the
elder anti-war protestor
looking like I’d just
stepped off the set of
Sky TV’s ‘Madmen’
drew bemused looks from
casual visitors but this
soon turned to dismay as
I began chanting “Hey,
Hey, LBJ, how many kids
did you kill today?!”
to herald the arrival of
the ‘A’ level
Students, (all the way
from Barry Island, Wales
no less!).
For the next hour or so,
they were instructed to
interrogate me in an
attempt to understand
why a WWII and Korea
veteran had elected to
join the anti-war
protest movement yet
still despised
communism, the
complexities of which
are far too much to
explain here.
As this part of the
workshop was so well
received, I was invited
to join the Students and
their Tutors for lunch
where over a sandwich or
two, we were able to
look at period ‘60’s
clothing and related
material that had been
loaned by ‘The Land of
Lost Content’ Museum
in nearby Craven Arms.
After failing to figure
out how I could
ferret-away several of
the rare counterculture
magazines that were on
display(!), the
afternoon session began
with yours truly turning
the tables on the
Students by posing them
the question that if
they had been
fresh-faced College or
University Students in
the 1960’s, would they
have felt compelled to
resist the Draft and
join an anti-war protest
movement themselves?
After half an hour of
what at times were
heated exchanges, I
think I can safely say
that I won them over as
they each reached for
one of my anti-war
placards and clutching
various (photocopied)
items of anti-war
ephemera, duly marched
off through the Museum
chanting “1,2,3,4, We
don’t want your
stinking war!”
It had been a very
enjoyable and worthwhile
day for all parties
concerned, hopefully
this first Cold War
workshop will pave the
way for others in the
future.
Pete our friendly
Protestor.
Rolling Thunder bringing
you the many faces of
the Vietnam war
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