Truk 15 — Purple Buttocks Medal

Five days into the National Guard’s occupation of the City of Berkeley, an increase in activity was enacted. A funeral march was planned by students for the demonstrator who was fatally injured on Bloody Thursday. The coordinators of the parade held a permit and we guardsmen were to assure those marching in the parade did not deviate from provisions of the permit. We stood in formation for more than a half hour waiting to board the trucks that would transport us to downtown from the Yacht Harbor. Now & then some officer would calls us to attention to give us a pep talk — there seemed to be a feeling by the brass that enlisted men were less enthused about persecuting the misbehaving students than the officers desired. I had overheard conversations to this effect in the officers mess & the officers were right.

As I stood with the other troops waiting to climb onto the trucks, I noted that many were wearing the beer-tab peace symbols. The beer-tab peace symbols were a medal concocted during the previous years Summer Camp. It symbolized unity amongst the enlisted men, their feelings of disapproval for the leadership’s misconduct.

Ten months later in Berkeley, it was good to see that the tradition of wearing beer tab peace symbol had lasted & in fact, expanded. I was told that many guardsmen were wearing the little metals on the front lines & getting a good response from the locals. I was given one of the little pins to wear at the funeral march (I neglected to bring mine when I left Sacramento) & received some smiles from demonstrators as a result. Some of the guardsmen were carrying spare beer tab peace symbols to hand out to those guardsmen wanting to join the silent protest of the brass’ misconduct.

After a very long preparatory formation, we loaded on the trucks & were transported downtown where we were assigned positions along the parade route. We stood for dozens of minutes before we saw the marchers coming. There were about 2500 marchers singing “We Shall Overcome” with a few carrying signs but many carrying potted plants. One or two plant carriers would peel off from the main parade body as the group passed vacant lots. Someone with a shovel would appear from nowhere & dig a hole in which the plant was installed. Someone else with a bucket of water then appeared & irrigated the newly installed plant. The marchers would move on — then the surprising thing to me occurred. An Alameda Sheriff in blue coveralls & helmet ripped the plant from the ground. Plants that were small enough, were torn to shreds while bigger plant stock were simply damaged as extensively as possible.

After the last of the marchers passed our point in the parade route, the guardsmen would move to a location ahead ahead of the funeral procession. This sort of leap frog scenario continued until we reached the end of the route at the cleared right-of-way for a future freeway, BART or something like that. As the marchers clustered at one end of the cleared piece of ground, the Guard set up a line across the R/W about 300' away from the marchers. We were told that, although the marchers were trespassing, we would allow them to remain on the first 300' but no more.

The Guard formed a line, one man deep, that extended across the bare land & the adjacent streets. I was located int the center if that line. As the marchers began to move slowly toward the line of guardsmen, we were ordered to mount bayonets. It was at this point I found that I no longer had my own bayonet the blade of which I had spent so many polishing & sharpening. I figured it was better that I didn’t have the shiny bayonet that may have drawn unwanted attention to myself. The funeral marchers proceeded toward the line & then stopped just a few feet away. CELEB SIGHTING! Joan Baez (or a look-a like) was at the lead of the marchers. There were some unruly marchers who shouted unkind words at the guardsmen. I saw one marcher try to impale himself on a bayonet — failed to make contact. Marchers like those were escorted by others of the funeral procession to a locations with less visibility. There were young ladies with translucent shirts & no undergarments stuffing daisies in the muzzles of the rifles. There were many other non-contact non-verbal gestures of friendship between the marchers & the guardsmen. The officers behind us were yelling for termination of the friendly intercourse between the two sides of the line.

The order was given for the Guard to count off. All odd numbered guard were to drop back & don gas masks. Then the even numbers. Some marchers pulled out wet handkerchiefs then tied the hankies over their nose & mouths. Other marchers retreated while a few unmasked marchers stood at the front; almost asking to be maced. The Alameda Sheriff said some indistinguishable words over a bull horn. There was a small pause then smoke bombs were activated at our rear (no mace). The smoke was very thick & impaired vision but caused no irritation or burning. The marchers fled & never regrouped that day. The Army trucks emerged from the smoke cloud & pulled up to the line of guards. We all went to the Yacht Harbor except a few who were sprinkled about town. Naturally, I went back to my KP duties. There was, immediately after arriving at the harbor, a meeting of all brass in the officers mess. I was busy serving beverages to the officers as some cooks worked fixing the officers lunch.

As I poured coffees and other drinks, the officers complained loudly regarding the embarrassment they had just suffered. Evidently, the brass wanted to engage in some kind of conflict between the marchers & the guard. There was talk of the guardsmen being “cozy” and too “friendly” with the “enemy”. There were some Southern California companies in our battalion with a reputation of bashing heads when conflicts like “Peoples Park” arose. It appeared we Northern California companies were going to be replaced with troops having more blood lust. The plan for dealing with the students began to take shape as the food started to appear.

The officers concluded that they were approaching the battle completely backward. The Guard was trying to intercept misbehaving students as they were retreating from downtown to the safety of the campus where the Guard was prohibited; instead, the Guard needed prevent the misbehaving students from entering downtown. The guard would establish a trap line at the campus boundary. The officers wanted to catch the demonstrators just outside campus “and beat the crap out of them”. The Berkeley campus is enormous & encircling the facility with guardsmen was impractical. It was decided that the new batch of guardsmen from Southern California would establish a trap line at the south & west campus boundaries. There would be very tight control points through which students could pass for entering & leaving campus. Phase two of the plan was to entice the problem students and non-student agitators to try to cross the guard’s line at locations other than the control points. Then WHACK! A solid smack with a baton & that student would not try to cross there again. I was concerned that the offices would think I was listening too closely — they weren’t. The officers were so exited about their new plan that being overheard by an enlisted man on KP was of no importance.

The planning continued as the food was consumed. Bogus fliers would be printed announcing a meeting on campus where there would be new information about Peoples Park. No such meeting existed but it would draw the target group to the inside of the trap line. Once inside, there would be an excuse for not letting the target group through the line and something to motivate them to try to cross. It was suggested that some plain clothed “off duty” guardsmen carry a couple of dozen skunks on campus then release the animals prior to exiting campus in the other direction. Several other plans with less merit were discussed. The plan chosen was to fly low over campus & spray mace on the students. The plan chosen by the National Guard would require approval by the Governor but all were confident the Governor would give his approval. The plan was moving forward & the officers seemed happier.

The troops were told that they going home & being replaced because it was felt they had performed so well & the burden of providing security for Berkeley should be shared with other companies in the battalion. The next two days were very light with no student activities & only a sprinkle of guardsmen in town. The Guard, while still pretending we came to Berkeley via Tracy because Interstate 80 was reduced to two lanes at Pinol, achieved permission from the Bay Toll Authority to cross the Carquinez Straights bridge. The ride home would be much quicker than the trip going to Berkeley. Our replacements from Southern California arrived in Berkeley about noon on the Friday (exactly one week) after our adventure began. It was fun to note some of our replacements wearing the beer tab peace symbols. It was good to know the brotherhood of the beer tab peace symbols had survived through the year. We agreed that we would all be wearing the symbols at upcoming Summer Camp. The true story of why we Northern Californians were being replaced now became common knowledge as the guardsmen from Southern California were not told to keep the story secret. Following lunch & clean up, my permanent KP status ended & along with that status change was an end to my access to pay phones. Any phone calls I wanted to make needed to be made then. I called my wife to tell her I’d like a pick up at the Sacramento armory but I didn’t know when. I called other wives with a similar message for those asking me to do so. Although I avoided being specific, I implied to each person I called that we would be leaving Berkeley about 3:00 & arriving in Sacramento a couple of hours later. We were called to formation time after time throughout the afternoon; each time we were thinking it was to tell us to load onto the trucks. At one of the formations, they explained we would travel to Sacramento via Interstate 80. Those with private cars parked at the armory in Sacramento could drive their cars to Chico but they were to not stop along the way. Those who drove private cars to Berkeley, would be allowed to drive their cars home but they could leave only after the trucks. The private car drivers were told that they had to go to the Chico armory to clean their rifle & stand inspection. A final formation with roll call & rifle inspection would occur before dismissal. One formation at the Yacht Harbor was called only to tell us that the scheduled meeting two weekends away would still be held as if there were no state of emergency & activation of our unit.

It was almost dark before the caravan of truck headed north. The trucks were carrying guardsmen who had, for a week, slept on the ground, had no showers, ate only C-rations & now just learned they were being sent home because their performance was not satisfactory. Those guys were an unhappy bunch of soldiers. Few words were spoken & there were none of the card games, etc. that usually occur during convoy. The glum bunch of guardsmen solemnly unloaded from the trucks once they parked at the armory. Some guardsmen formed formed a line at the pay phone while others ran to the restroom. I was in the line at the phone — the wife was not pleased that she had been waiting for hours for my call.

The medics clustered at one truck for quite a few minutes before escorting a soldier into the division headquarters building. I would learn later that the soldier was my friend Dennis Simpson. Dennis had sat on a bayonet which had fallen from its scabbard. This was no ordinary bayonet but an extremely sharp bayonet that inflicted a deep long incision at Dennis’ rectum. I now knew who had the bayonet with which I had carved the hand; however, I was going to remain silent about the source of this unusual weapon. The on-staff MD stitched Dennis’ wound & Dennis became the only injury of the Peoples Park campaign. The officers loved the fact that we had an injury to offset the perception of this weeks stay in Berkeley was a frivolous endeavor. There was a press release by the guard covering the valiant effort by Sacramento’s National Guard to contain the rioter of Berkeley with only one soldier being wounded. The local Chico newspaper didn’t settle for the vagueness of “only one soldier wounded”; they published Dennis’ name & the full details of his injury & treatment Dennis was more than embarrassed.

The stop in Sacramento was quite brief & the four dozen Army vehicles continuing north to Yuba City & Chico carried no more than two guardsmen each. Everyone else (including myself) were in private vehicles. I, like many other guardsmen, stopped to shower & clean up before heading to Chico. I dropped the wife at her mother’s house in Chico & went to the Chico Armory. I was late — I was given extra cleaning chores as punishment. I really didn’t give a damn. Others at the armory seemed to share my lack of enthusiasm. It was early Saturday morning when we were finally released with the knowledge we would be back in less than two weeks.

My next two weeks back at work were filled with phone calls thanking me for my service in Berkeley & I received a “Thank You” card signed by many. My days off work were going to be paid in full as military leave although I didn’t qualify. It was difficult for me to understand that this ridiculous fight in Berkeley over 3 acres of dirt was of import to my fellow workers. Oh well! I followed occurrences in Berkeley on the TV’s evening news with interest, only because I had spent a week involved. I found I was actually amused as I heard that the Guard trapped demonstrators on Campus then beat the demonstrators as they tried to escape the tear gas being sprayed on them by National Guard helicopters. This plan was so bizzar when I first heard it at the officer’s mess at the Yacht Harbor, I could hardly believe their plan came to be. The Southern California Guard units went home a few days after the gassing & activists attention turned elsewhere.

The evening of the first Friday in June was the next meeting of the National Guard at the Chico Armory. My not being able to leave work in Sacramento before 5:00 PM made every7:00 PM formations difficult to attend; this meeting was no exception. I rolled in at the last second but I took the time to add to my uniform, my wooden hand on a leather tong hung as a pendant about my neck. During formation, my squad leader held the wood figure in his hand, examined it, then smiled. That smile was without the story behind the carving. The hand drew attention from quite a few as we prepped for Summer Camp. Later that evening, one of the Wakefield boys asked to borrow my wood hand overnight. I figured he wanted to show his wife or something. What he wanted was to make a copy. The hand was taken to the Wakefield family’s auto glass shop where a mold was made. A metal form replica of the hand was then developed using the mold. That metal replica was hooked to a router jig & was the template for making hardwood hands looking very much like the original. Finishing the replicas was slow & the finish differed with each copy. The original hand was returned to me the morning after I loaned it out. There were a half dozen Guardsmen who had wooden hands dangling from their necks on Saturday morning — by Sunday, more than a dozen.

At 4:00 AM Saturday, those 6 Guardsmen from the Chico company who did not make it to Berkeley (regardless of their excuse) were trucked to the old state fair grounds in Sacramento. There they met Guardsmen from other companies who failed to respond to the call to active duty. After roll call formation & no breakfast, the guardsmen were required to perform calasentics in a cloud of tear gas. Next order of business was an alligator crawl through the mud where the cow barn & hog barns once existed with a few surprise clouds of tear gas. This theme continued until late night when the men were released with some officer suggesting they may respond differently the next time the Guard is called to active duty. The officer who accompanied our six men, Lieutenant Wright, advocated for them (with minor success) throughout the day.

When an officer came through our National Guard company & that officer was not a complete asshole, he would quickly transfer to a different unit. We enlisted men would always have a good bye function for the officer & gift this individual with a token of our appreciation. A fiberglass helmet was the common gift. One such officer was Lieutenant Wright, he was leaving our company that weekend. Lieutenant Wright had stood up for the enlisted men several times against misbehaving brass & suffered the consequences. A party was held honoring him. He was given a fiberglass helmet; plus, he was the first recipient of the wooden hand award. We enlisted men decided during Saturday’s drill, that whenever a leaded (officer or NCO) stood up against misconduct by those above, that leader was eligible to receive a wooden hand as a symbol of appreciation from those he had helped. The enlisted men who wore the hand, did so as simply a gesture of defiance.

All the enlisted men at Chico busted their butts readying everything for Summer Camp that weekend. In three weeks, our entire battalion would perform it’s annual active duty training at Camp Roberts (just north of Paso Robles). Roberts was host to this activity in years past so the Chico Guard was well versed in how to prep for the three weeks at that facility. The old WWII barracks, the base’s proximity to town, where to go during the weekends off duty, & all that stuff made this look as if it were going to be much better Summer Camp than the previous Summer at Irwin.

The three weeks preceding Summer Camp went fast. My taking off a week from work for the Berkeley riots set me back & now three more weeks off -my projects were really suffering. I trained a technician how to take readings on my tests while I was gone but no data from those tests was being analyzed. Progress reports for my projects were going to be sparse. I left work early on my last Friday before Camp. I had much to do at the Armory prior to departure so sliding in at the last second as i usually did wouldn’t work this time. In this year’s convoy, I was driving a jeep with a recoiless rifle (I usually rode in the back of a 3/4 ton truck & slept). I finished my chores about midnight — the convoy was not leaving until 2:00 AM so I tried to find a hiding place to sleep. I was successful in getting rest so I was ready when the drive began. There was a long stop in Yuba City & breakfast at 7:00 AM in Sacramento. There was actually eggs & bacon, toast & fruit at breakfast. This was a slow but enjoyable trip thus far. The convoy crept slowly southward toward Paso Robles stopping once for lunch (the Army calls it dinner). We arrived at Roberts early & had to wait for the rest of the troops to show up before we could move into our barracks.

We were given 90 minutes of free time — I went to the PX to get blousing bands & stuff like that. At the PX, there was a Wakefield brother with professionally packed boxes of beer tab peace symbols. He told the PX manager the items were non-official campaign medals for those who participated in the Peoples Park operation & there may be requests for these items. Wakefield said he was leaving the boxes at the PX & indicated that the PX could set the price; however, he wanted 20% of the gross & he would stop by at the end of Summer Camp & collect any left over medals. I thought Wakefield was pretty gutsy making such a move — it was hard for me to not bust out laughing.

The remainder of the battalion arrived & we moved into what would be home for three weeks. Before supper, we stood at separate formations where it was explained that we would have a parade the next day. We would actually have a practice run in the morning then the real thing early afternoon. The cooks really out did themselves with a fantastic supper. The lieutenant in charge of mess hall took the head chef to the officer’s mess & showed him the CO’s plate with a pile of mushrooms pushed to the side. It was suggested that the kitchen refrain from cooking dishes that included mushroom. You guessed it — there were mushroom in everything after that.

The next morning started standing reveille, breakfast, PT, then parade practice. Practicing for a military parade; or for that matter, just having a military parade at Summer Camp was quite unusual. All were wondering what was up. We found out after lunch. Approximately 2000 troops marched onto the infrequently used & deteriorated parade grounds to the beat of the military six piece band. We marched in front of the reviewing stands & gave our little salute move. We all eventually found our spots on the parade grounds where we would spend the next two hours in the boiling heat. First a general spoke from the podium at the reviewing stand. He said “blah, blah, blah…”. Next on the program of speakers was an officer who provided the bulk of the show. He started his speech on a positive note (I’m being facetious). He commended the battalion’s performance during the state of emergency in Berkeley. He then announced that those who failed to report after the call up by the Governor numbered only 122 men. He explained that those men were punished for twelve hours at the old state fair grounds so we who did our duty would understand that those 122 guardsmen did not get away with anything. The speaker continued telling us that they weren’t finished yet; the guardsmen who were above the rank of private would be reduced one grade. Things got better. The speaker singled out one guardsmen, Specialist Hummer, who not only failed to report fir duty, but was seen on a balcony in Berkeley -he had joined the enemy. Specialist Hummer was to be reduced to the rank of private plus spend seven days in jail. He was ordered to report to the Yuba County Jail in Marysville where he would spend seven days. His military and civilian record would reflect his crime. The speaker went on to his next subject.

The speaker asked that the following six men come to the review stand: the names of six enlisted men were read off — the last being Specialist Greg Baldwin. Greg was on KP — a dispatch was sent to collect Greg & bring him to the podium. I knew that he was going to be demoted or otherwise punished for talking to the tourist that night in Berkeley. Greg was brought by jeep to the stage where he stood alongside the five others. The speaker then announced that these six men were observed being challenged by demonstrators trying to break through the lines & each of them held their ground & did not let the enemy pass. I could hardly believe the outcome of this situation. The speaker then explained that the Army did not have a medal for this type of valor; however, the National Guard had authority to create such a medal & bestow it upon deserving guardsmen. The six men were then pinned with the medals of which only six were created & only six would be awarded. The medal consisted of an aluminum ring of flowers with a bayoneted rifle crossing the ring at 45 degrees all hanging from a gold & blue ribbon. We’re not finished yet — things only get better. The next person called to the review stand was Specialist Dennis Simpson. Yes — he was getting a medal for sitting on my bayonet. The speaker explained that the medal was a one of a kind honoring Dennis as the only guardsman injured during the conflict. It was created by the same designer of the other six medals. This medal looked like two ovals smooched together hanging from a white ribbon. We joked that the medal depicted his buttock with toilet paper. Then the icing on the cake — all guardsmen who participated in the operation to secure the peace in Berkeley were entitled to wear a medal commemorating their service. It was explained that many guardsmen were so proud of their helping the community of Berkeley that they designed & were wearing the medals already. Those medals are available at the PX the speaker said. There were beer tab peace symbols left over at the end of Summer Camp but almost a thousand were sold by the PX.

The last speaker talked of the greatness of our battalion & how we punished the demonstrators to a point where we made made things so unpleasant for them that there were no demonstrations the last two nights the Guard was in Berkerley. The gasing of the mob & beating those trying to escape finally did them in. We should be proud — we won the battle for Berkeley.

We ex-guardsmen sitting at the table mumbled over & over “We won the battle for Berkeley”