Jerry Brown, the anti-war GI who exposed the illegal physicals being given at Ft. Wayne, is back in Detroit. The question now is how long he’ll be around.
Spec. 4 Brown, who is a medical technician at the Detroit induction center, was interviewed by this newspaper in May regarding the improper procedures at the base and was transferred to Ft. Harrison in Indiana as a punitive measure. After a month’s stay at the base, the brass decided to ship Brown back to Ft. Wayne because of his continuing GI organizing efforts there.
Upon his arrival in Detroit, Brown was given orders transferring him to Ft. Jackson in South Carolina. He heard that this was in order to “straighten him out.” “It was clear to me that the 5th Army headquarters in Chicago wanted to get rid of me, but I had no intention of signing the transfer order,” he said. A confrontation between Brown and the Army was expected July 6 when he was to be given a direct order to sign the transfer.
Then things cooled off for awhile. It appeared that the army was giving up on the case when calls by Brown’s attorney, Dennis James, to the Inspector General of the Army’s office brought an order for an indefinite postponement of the transfer.
At press time, however, the situation was reversed again and Brown’s transfer orders have been reissued.
The Washington DC Army office had stated that no legal action or transfer would be taken against Brown pending completion of a report on the Ft. Wayne situation requested by Michigan Senator Hart. Apparently, the Ft. Wayne brass wants to get Brown bad enough to act contrary to the statement from Washington.
Jerry is back on the job as a medical technician, but Col. Edwards at Ft. Wayne is making certain that he does not come in contact with any of the men taking their physicals. They have him doing lab testing.
Anticipating That the Army would begin court-martial proceedings, Brown and his attorney put out a call on WABX and WKNR for men who felt that they had received inadequate physicals to call the Fifth Estate office. This is in order to begin compiling a record to use in case a legal defense is needed. At least 35 men responded. Now that the transfer orders have been reissued, it is urgent that this record be completed.
Brown needs a couple of hundred men who will testify in his behalf about irregularities in Ft. Wayne physicals.
All men who feel they received improper physicals at Ft. Wayne should contact the National Lawyers Guild at 5705 Woodward, Detroit 48202, phone 871-1251 or the Fifth Estate office, 1107 W. Warren, Detroit 48201, phone 831-6800.