Douglas Hostetter – Mennonite and Conscientious Objector [CO] -- served in the middle of a hot zone during the VietNam War supporting the people who lived there. His is an amazing story. Rebecca McKean and I spoke with Mr Hostetter at Gebhard’s Beer Culture Bar in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Juneteenth and Father’s day, 2022. We will post our conversation with Douglas in two parts. This is part one: During the Viet Nam War from 1966 – 1969 --  rather than carrying a gun, Douglas Hostetter organized literacy classes for Vietnamese children and craft training for his neighbors. Rather than the relative safety of the American military compounds – Doug lived amongst his students, and survived in the open by being useful to the community -- and nonviolent. After his service, Douglas worked to end the war in Viet Nam through the People’s Peace Treaty – a document signed by college students in [North and South] Viet Nam and the United States – which Pres. Nixon rejected. Several years later, after hundreds of thousands of more humans died in Viet Nam and Cambodia -- the Paris Peace Accords was signed. The Accords closely mirrored the earlier People’s Peace Treaty.

In the second part of this program Douglas talks about surviving the TET offensive and the CIA attempt to assassinate him, and his life work to end war.

Alan Winson

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