Remembering Dave Cline: Part 2

This blog is going to be all Dave Cline for a while. I start by posting the incredibly moving tribute to Dave by Nancy and Charlie Lessin, co-founders of Military Families Speak Out. This puts meat on the bones of what I started to lay out here at FotM on Saturday when I heard the news of Dave's death:

Dave Cline will someday, in a better world, stand recognized as one of the great figures in the history of the United States since the Second World War.

The next two posts will highlight the first memorial to Dave--one so steeped in the struggle to end the occupation of Iraq Dave would have laughed--and one on an aspect of his life that has not been commented much so far, the time he spent as a militant rank and file union activist, who helped lead the "Battle of the Bulk" wildcat strike against the U.S. Postal Service in the late '70s.


A Death in the Family

We received word early on the morning of September 15th that Dave Cline had passed away at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey the night before. We are saddened beyond words to lose this extraordinary hero, warrior for peace, and friend.

We first met Dave before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in January, 2003, when the drumbeats for war were getting deafening. Dave was the president of Veterans For Peace, and he invited Military Families Speak Out to march with the Veterans For Peace contingent in a national demonstration in Washington, D.C. opposing a U.S. invasion of Iraq.

MFSO had formed just two months before, in November, 2002. We were at that time a small group of military families with loved ones already on their way to the Persian Gulf, or being prepared in various ways for deployment. The Veterans For Peace contingent included Vietnam Veterans and Veterans from other conflicts. They had signs calling out President Bush and Vice President Cheney as chicken-hawks who had never served in combat but were all too happy to send our children, our loved ones and another generation into a war on false pretences.

As we marched, Dave led us in cadence that spoke to us in a very special way:

HEY, HEY UNCLE SAM
WE REMEMBER VIET NAM
WE DON’T WANT YOUR IRAQ WAR
PEACE IS WHAT WE’RE MARCHIN’ FOR

IF THEY TELL YOU TO GO
THERE IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW
THEY WAVE THE FLAG WHEN YOU ATTACK
WHEN YOU COME HOME THEY TURN THEIR BACK

BUSH AND CHENEY TALK THAT TALK
BUT WE KNOW THEY’RE CHICKEN HAWKS
IF THEY THINK THEY’RE SO DAMN RIGHT
LET BUSH AND CHENEY GO TO FIGHT

Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace became a family that January, and we have never been apart since. For this, we have Dave Cline to thank.

Dave brought Military Families Speak Out into the planning for a Veterans For Peace event in Washington, DC called “Operation Dire Distress”, to take place at the end of March, 2003. As it turned out, Operation Dire Distress took place about a week and a half after the bombs began dropping on Baghdad. Operation Dire Distress ended up being the first national event protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq. While many other groups seemed to suffer a set-back in organizing once hostilities began, Operation Dire Distress helped Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Military Families Speak Out move forward strategically and together, without missing a beat, to build our voices as Veterans and Military Families speaking out to separate “support for our troops” from “support for the war,” and to urge an end to a war we had hoped would never have started.

Dave Cline’s phone number was entered in our ‘speed dials;’ and his counsel, advice, vision and strategic sense helped MFSO grow during those first months of hostilities and beyond. On July 2, 2003, when George Bush uttered his infamous “Bring ‘em on!” in response to a reporter’s question about the presence of an armed Iraqi resistance, we were on the phone with Dave Cline in a heartbeat. With Dave and others we formulated a response, a campaign to challenge Bush’s statement and the U.S. military occupation of Iraq. As George Bush was saying “Bring ‘em on,” we said, “Bring ‘em home!” Out of these conversations grew the Bring Them Home NOW! campaign in August, 2003. This campaign planted a pole for the peace/anti-war movement and the country as a whole; as the months and years went by, more and more have moved to this position.

Dave Cline continued to be a large part of the heart and soul of the movement to end the war in Iraq. He supported Military Families Speak Out in more ways than we can ever express. On the painful first anniversary of this unjust and unjustifiable war, VFP, MFSO and others went to Fayetteville, North Carolina to hold a “Support Our Troops – Bring Them Home NOW” rally. Dave’s new set of cadences included a special one for Military Families Speak Out:

MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT
WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE TALKING BOUT
SONS AND DAUGHTERS, HUSBANDS, WIVES
BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE

With all due respect to those who have led cadence during demonstrations over the years and across the country, no one could do it quite like Dave. His voice would echo in our ears; now and for all time it will echo in our hearts.

In July, 2004 at the Veterans For Peace Conference in Boston, Massachusetts we stood proudly with Dave Cline and other members of Veterans For Peace and Military Families Speak Out as the eight founding members of a new organization – Iraq Veterans Against the War – held their first press conference. Dave was there at the beginning of that organization as well, and shared advice, counsel, vision and strategic planning with IVAW as it grew into the powerful organization it is today.

There is so much that Dave Cline helped to accomplish, building the movement for peace and justice over the years, across the country and around the world. We are so thankful that Dave Cline came into our lives when he did. His wit and wisdom helped guide the formation of Military Families Speak Out and our growth from 2 military families in November, 2002 to almost 3,700 today. We thank Dave for the inspiration, guidance and love that he gave to us, and to so many others.

Rest in Peace, Dave Cline!
With Gratitude and Love - In Peace and Solidarity,

Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson
Co-founders, Military Families Speak Out
September 16, 2007