Vietnam Veterans Stage Mock Battles

Outfitted as combat troopers and armed with??? M-16 rifles, 40 members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) will begin a day of antiwar demonstrations in Boston with guerrilla theatre actions early this morning on Government Center Plaza.

The first action, a mock combat sweep of the Plaza and the subway station beneath it, will start at 8 a.m. "It's going to be pretty frightening to bystanders," VVAW representative Erick Herder said yesterday. "But then, the war is pretty frightening too."

VVAW planned today's protests to publicize Operation Dewey Canyon III,, the week-long antiwar campaign by Vietnam veterans which VVAW is sponsoring in Washington, April 19-23.

Congrssmen Endorse

Today's actions in Boston include staged battles between VVAW members dressed up as American and Vietnamese soldiers, a speech by Rep. Robert Drinan (D-Mass.), and a court of inquiry into previously unpublicized aspects of the American war effort.

Except for a brief foray to the Boston Common at 9:30 a.m. by the guerrilla theatre group, all of the actions will take place on Government Center Plaza. Over 200 veterans will participate.

Drinan and a representative of Sea. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.) will speak at noon on the Plaza. A member of VVAW will then read statements supporting the planned Washington protests from six Massachusetts congressmen.

At 12:30 p.m. on the Plaza 15 veterans will offer sworn testimony about their experiences in Vietnam, as a part of the continuing nationwide court of inquiry, the Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI).

The veterans will discuss Allied falsification of body counts, assassination programs, illegal border crossings, black market operations, punitive transfers of "undesirable" soldiers, and cover-ups of misappropriated funds in Vietnam, Rusty Sachs '72, WSI Moderator, said.

VVAW is arranging transportation for veterans who wish to go to Washington. Buses and cars will leave at 9 a.m. Sunday from the MBTA parking lot near Harvard Square.