More Info →2023N_2017-20_AC701_006

Description: This image was taken (but not used) for a story that ran in The Manawatu Evening Standard on the 8th of May 1970.
"More than 200 anti-Vietnam war demonstrators marched quietly and solemnly along Broadway Avenue in Palmerston North shortly after noon yesterday, carrying a dozen black-draped coffins designed to symbolise the 28 New Zealanders killed in the Vietnam War.
The demonstrators – many of whom were also carrying placards – placed the coffins in a semi-circle around the base of the Clock Tower. They were then addressed by the member for Palmerston North, Mr J. A. Walding, by Mr. R. Lyall, A Massey University English lecturer, and by Mr. A. Millar, a trade unionist.
The demonstrators were escorted by a Ministry of Transport car, with its red light flashing, and traffic was held up only for a few minutes.
Both uniformed and plain clothes police officers kept a wary eye on the march, but there were no incidents.
Most of the placards bore a similar theme, calling on the Government to withdraw New Zealand’s troops from the war.
Walding told the demonstrators that he believed history would regard New Zealand’s armed intervention in Vietnam as a ‘futile, tragic mistake.’
But he added, ‘To doubt the motives of the Americans, New Zealanders, and others who serve in Vietnam is wrong.
‘Less than a week ago, with others, I stood a few yards from here paying respect to New Zealand servicemen who had given their lives to preserve. Among other things, your right to protest.
‘You make their sacrifice meaningful if you exercise that right, and exercise it in a responsible manner.’”
A letter to the editor published the same day put forward a different view of the protest:
“Sir, - When visiting your city last Friday, I viewed with disgust the parade through town. My father is a First World War veteran, my husband spent six years overseas in the last war, including three and a half in a prisoner of war camp, but nobody paraded through town with placards saying they should be sent home. The men who are overseas at present are all volunteers, nobody has forced them to go. I have a friend who, on his return from Vietnam to New Zealand, immediately re-enlisted. There have been many such exhibitions as Friday’s, but I have yet to see one featuring a Vietnam veteran. What exactly do those grubby, untidy looking people who paraded on Friday expect to achieve? From what I saw of them I should say a spell in the army would not hurt some of them. If those are the people we are to entrust our children to, heaven help the next generation. What a pity they cannot channel their enthusiasm into more worthwhile activities which may bring better results for them, as I am sure the only thing they did last Friday was to make exhibitions of themselves. – DISGUSTED VISITOR, Mangaweka.”