To the editor:
Last Sunday the Veterans For Peace Samantha Smith Chapter 45, based in Ipswich, was invited by Professor Hope Benne of the Salem State College Peace Institute to celebrate this year's International Day of Peace music festival at the college's Ellison Campus Center. At that time the several members who assembled were awarded the institute's first Champion of Peace award.
The program included musical arrangements by student Sara Lopez, followed by political science Professor Rich Levy's praise for the local chapter's accomplishments ranging from helping to launch two nationwide peace groups — Military Families Speak Out and Iraq Vets Against the War; establishing a K-12 peace poetry contest in North Shore schools; supporting ongoing vigils, speeches in schools, and by returning Iraq vets; and collaborating with other veterans and activists in several countries to promote peace and social justice.
Professor Benne called me to the stage, as other chapter members stood in front, to receive an award plaque. Its inscription reads: "Salem State College Peace Institute Honors Veterans for Peace Samantha Smith Chapter 45. Your Courage and Commitment To Peace and Justice Offer a Noble Vision For All Humanity. Salem State College, International Day of Peace, September 21, 2008."
Benne praised our group for its antiwar activities over the years. All members were treated to a special surprise supplied by my daughter, Robin, who had flown in a beautiful orchid lei for each veteran, adding a warm glow to the ceremony.
I had the opportunity to address the college students and guests, during which I urged them to follow the peacemaking efforts of the chapter's namesake, 10-year-old Samantha Smith of Maine.
Samantha bravely wrote to then Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov in 1982 asking why the Soviet people wanted to make nuclear war on the United States.
"Didn't God want us both to live in peace?" she asked. The young girl and her family went to the Soviet Union and toured the country. Tragically, she and her father died in a commercial plane crash in 1985.
I ended my comments by calling on students to write President George W. Bush protesting the illegal war in Iraq, and reminding them that the human and economic debt incurred will ultimately belong to their generation.
Paul Brailsford
Ipswich
(Editor's note: Paul Brailsford, 93, is a longtime peace activist and founding member of the Samantha Smith Chapter, Veterans for Peace. His career as a merchant mariner included service during World War II as an officer and master of merchant ships.)
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