"I can remember being at home at the time [when World War II ended] and going down for a big gathering down on the streets. At that time I didn't even stop to think of the reality of it. We used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. And I didn't even think in terms of the morality of that. I was just so glad the war was over and we could get on with our lives. And to me that's one of the things that this country has got to come to grips with, apologizing. I just don't want nuclear weapons and I want more peaceful means used to solve than shooting each other."
Involvement
"When I really got into [the peace movement] was when [my daughter's] husband was transferred to Germany at the same time as they were sending cruise missiles over there. That's when I decided to take the more active step. I'd had friends who had done civil resistance and I supported them, but I didn't feel any call to do it myself. But I did when my daughter and grandchildren went over there at the same time as these weapons were going over."
Arrests
"My first [action] was at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, and our country had B-52's up there, equipped with nuclear weapons more powerful than the ones that were dropped at Hiroshima. The first time [you cross the line you get] a ban and bar letter, barring you to come back to that base. About the third time I crossed up there I was sentenced to jail for a week. [Each time I crossed the line] my sentences kept going up. The longest I was in was three weeks, which is nothing compared to what other peacemakers have served."
Copyright 2003 Sarah Leonard
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University of Michigan
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