The Walter Reed Vigil continues every Friday evening from 7-9 PM.

Our Vigil calls for Peace, Care for the wounded, and Full Benefits for all veterans.

Sisters and brothers,

The Walter Reed Vigil is now in its fifth year of continuous Friday evenings. We have withstood weather, fascists, warmongers, and motorcycle clubs—we are still here. Now we face another attempt to silence our messages of Peace, Care, and Full Benefits for veterans.

FRIDAY JULY 10, 2009

Come out for FREE SPEECH, for an END TO WAR and OCCUPATION, for an END TO SPREADING WAR—to call for ALL OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS HOME RIGHT NOW!

An unnamed Commander, it could be Major General Carla Hawley-Bowland or Garrison Commander Colonel Bruce E. Haselden, or a new replacement, has issued orders to not allow signs calling for Peace (and all troops home), Care for the wounded, and Full benefits for all veterans on the outside of the hospital grounds where we have placed them for more than four years. According to a Walter Reed police officer, the former commander "had no problem" with our signs. The new commander evidently thinks he or she can do what no one else has done in the last five years—make the Walter Reed Vigil go away.

From 7-9 PM, join us in front of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, middle of the 7100 block of Georgia Avenue between Elder and Dahlia Streets.

Why will this General also fail? We will not be stopped. The Vigil believes in our message. Overwhelming support from the community including those inside the hospital and relations of those inside the hospital makes it clear that many of us believe in speaking the truth to a war mad government. The General may think she or he can order us to go away but she or he will find out that her or his authority does not extend to stomping on our intention to speak out. Unlike the noisy, abusive demonstrations put on by the supporters of war and bloodshed half a block away from our Vigil, the Walter Reed Vigil is sensitive to the needs of our wounded; our message speaks directly and clearly to what is most pressing on their minds. But we do not support the war policy of the US Government, of the past or the present administrations.