An American ‘draft dodger’, John Lacey, speaks about his decision to leave the United States rather than face conscription and service in Vietnam:

“My name is John Lacey. I was born in 1945 and brought up in New York. I left America in 1967 just after leaving college. I did this to avoid being drafted. I went to Canada and then to Sweden where I lived till there was an amnesty for draft dodgers which let me return to the USA.

Was I a coward? Did I let my country down? In one way I was a coward, for I left rather than go to jail for my refusal to join the army. But I wasn’t afraid to fight. I refused to serve in Vietnam because we had no right to be there. We only brought untold suffering and destruction to that country. We acted like the bully of the world and used all our vast military might against a small nation of peasants.

Some people might say that I was not in a position to judge what was happening in Vietnam. However, there were many war veterans who hated the war just as much as I did. They saw the injustices at first hand and they condemned the war too.

I’m very bitter about our government’s actions. They lied to justify their actions and while they spent millions on bombing North Vietnam, the problems in the ghettoes of our big cities grew worse and worse. The Vietnam War has left a deep scar on my country.”