NPR has reported that singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester passed away Friday morning. Wincheseter was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in 2011. The Juno award-winning vocalist collaborated with The Everly Brothers, Wynona Judd, Jimmy Buffett and Elvis Costello.
From NPR:
Winchester, like hundreds of thousands of other anti-war protesters who left the country or otherwise avoided the draft, was able to return to the U.S. after President Carter granted them unconditional pardons on his first day in office — Jan. 21, 1977.
He was 69.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2014.
Get this right, he was not a Vietnam Veteran, he was a draft dodger that ran to Canada so someone else had to go in his place.
Jesse Winchester answered the call of his conscience. Nobody said, or implied that he was a Vietnam Veteran. He made a difficult choice. His refusal to take part in that most ill-conceived of America’s wars (before G.W. Bush gave us Afghanistan and Iraq) probably saved lives. Leave it to one of the legion of Tucson’s yahoos to spit on his grave.
Question: What if they gave another uneccessary imperial war of naked aggression and nobody came? Answer: Millions of lives might be saved from an early, untimely end.
Rest in peace, Jesse. You will be remembered as a gentle poet and a warrior for peace.
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