Class of: 1972 1991
Brick: yes

I entered Stetson in the fall of 1965, and like many other freshmen, I had no sure plans for my future. The war in Vietnam was heating up significantly, and, in response, I enrolled in Stetson ROTC in my freshman year with the idea that when I entered military service after graduating from Stetson, I might be an Army officer. Even though I was a religious conscientious objector, I nally felt there would be some meaningful niche for me to fill in the service, and I could always wait until my junior year to make that commitment. When I returned to Stetson for my sophomore year in 1966, I was ambivalent about my studies, and dropped out of school at the end of the “mini-mester” in February 1967.

With the military draft taking every able-bodied male it could find, I was soon reclassified 1A; My “Greetings!” telegram was just around the corner. At that time, there was almost no alternative to the military draft for religious conscientious objectors, so I joined the US Navy, enlisting and hoping for an assignment that was something I could do that was not at odds with my faith. Leaving from the Greyhound Bus Station in DeLand on a Sunday afternoon shortly after my 20th birthday, I thought I would be sent back to DeLand before reporting for duty and shipping out. However, within 24 hours I was in San Diego at the US Navy Recruit Training Command, known more commonly as “Boot Camp”. After ten weeks of basic training and enjoying a one-week leave to go back to DeLand, I reported to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, CA. At the naval shipyard I studied electronics and the repair and maintenance of radar systems, but mostly I performed numerous watches and clean-up details. Even though I informed my command that as a religious conscientious objector I would not participate in armed conflict or the support of it, they encouraged me to stick with the Navy, possibly thinking I might change my mind.

In that time I married my first wife, Stetson student Deidre Stegall whom I had met and dated back in DeLand. We were married at Mare Island, California, in the oldest US Navy chapel in the United States. Because of my refusal to aid and abet most military activities, we feared I might soon be in severe legal difficulties. However, after almost two years of good service, I was informed that my enlistment in the Navy would terminate early, and I was awarded my Honorable Discharge. That was on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1968. We stayed briefly in California before returning in the fall of 1969 to Stetson and resuming our studies. Back at Stetson, we found that during the two years we had been away, we had both matured significantly, becoming eager, high achieving students and graduating soon thereafter. Because I had served as in the enlisted ranks instead of as an officer, for the first time in my life I clearly understood that if I did not seriously pursue and finish my education, I would always be in a position that afforded me many fewer choices and opportunities in life.

After re-enrolling in Stetson in the spring of 1969, I earned my BA in English in 1972 and my MA in English in 1991. The GI Bill paid me $120 per month, and in those days, that amount of money, along with National Defense Loans, made it possible for me to return to Stetson.

Following graduation, I taught English and reading in Volusia County Schools from 1972 until my retirement in 2011. Having my Honorable Discharge opened many opportunities for me. When I returned to Stetson in 1969, I worked with the Anti-Draft Council to advise Stetson students about the war and their obligations under the military conscription laws (Selective Service Act) then in effect. The Anti-Draft Committee was part of the Student Government, and our Chairperson was Mr. Mark Shuttleworth, who is currently living in Lake Helen, FL. I believe Mark graduated from Stetson in 1972, the same year as I did. Mark is a permanent resident of the DeLand area, and I know he would remember much of the work we did in those days, counselling fellow students about the draft.

Please know that the Vietnam War Era was a very confusing and sometimes difficult period for many young Americans. I, for one, wanted to be a good citizen, to help my country, and to serve with my countrymen, but the laws at that time provided little or no options for men who conscientiously objected to war. Many men my age fled to Canada, but evasive flight was not something I could countenance. That is why I enlisted in the military service and then informed my commanding officer that I would not take part in that war or any other armed conflict. Probably very few other men in the nation took this action, because no one in the military seemed to know what to make of me or do with me. On two trips to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, I have spent hours weeping openly over the loss of so many of our brothers and sisters who answered the call to serve our nation, however confusing the mission. I have stood and read the honor roll names for 30 minutes at a time in Veterans’ Day observances in Volusia County. Remember, some of these veterans were spat on and reviled when they returned to this country. I was verbally accosted on the streets of DeLand in 1969 for my service. I still had my military haircut, and I guess that for a while I was an unmistakable returnee from military service. I hope that your plans for this long-overdue memorial at Stetson will somehow have a space for all of us who served, both the willing and the reluctant. Please make some special recognition for those who died or were wounded in Vietnam. I believed we all died a little during that time, and I still weep. I am thankful for the service opportunity I had in the United States Navy. I deeply love the United States of America and give thanks for finding some way to peacefully serve in the Navy during time of war. I am proud to be a US Navy veteran of the Vietnam Era.