Since the US government launched the war to invade Vietnam, the movement against the war, demanding the US government to stop its intervention in Vietnam has exploded strongly in the heart of the US.
That wave is not only a collection of peace-loving progressive American citizens, but also the voices of American intellectuals, politicians, social activists and above all, the conscience of soldiers - American youths were pushed into a cruel and senseless war. It can be said that nowhere in the world has the government of a country sending an expeditionary force to fight abroad has encountered such persistent and fierce opposition as in the United States during the years of the war of aggression Vietnam.
The pride and honor of serving in the army became the obsession of every young American when being pushed into the Vietnam battlefield. Hundreds and thousands of young Americans burned their military cards, deserted, and fled abroad to avoid having to join the army and fight in Vietnam. David O'Brien - a young man in Boston (USA), became the first person to burn his draft card.
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David Miller, a young American man burns enemy cards. Source: Vietnam News Agency
In the early days, the burning of military cards to protest the US government's war policy was prosecuted by the Federal Court. But later, with the rapid growth of the movement across the United States, the prison was no longer enough to hold.
According to statistics, in mid-1965 there were 380 prosecutions involving people who refused to join the army, but by mid-1968 this number increased nearly tenfold, to 3,305. In October 1967, in San Francisco alone, 300 draft cards were returned in the US government's campaign to revoke recruitment cards. In May 1969, the Oakland Army Recruitment Center - which recruited troops from areas in northern California recorded 4,400 young Americans in the draft, but up to 2,400 people did not show up. By the end of 1969, there were 33,960 cases of evading soldiers in the United States. Not only increased sharply in number, the movement also had a clear change, from only appearing in the army of conscription soldiers, from 1968, anti-war activities of US soldiers spread to the volunteer soldiers.
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Soldiers participating in the movement of burning draft cards as well as participating in other anti-war movements were charged, arrested, and expelled from the United States... However, the movement was still going strong and increasing rapidly in the number of soldiers participating over the years.
Thus, since 1965, when the US government officially sent troops into the war in Vietnam, the movement of burning draft cards has become one of the strong anti-war movements in the ranks of US soldiers. Along with anti-war movements in the ranks of American soldiers and veterans such as publishing publications, opening anti-war café shop, protesting, refusing to join the war in Vietnam, deserting... put pressure on the US government, join with other anti-war movements of the American people, force the US government to de-escalate the war, seek peaceful solutions, and end the war in Vietnam.
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The American youth burned his military card and refused to send him to Vietnam to fight in the war (January 6, 1965) Source: Vietnam News Agency