‘The Milwaukee 14’
Activists mark 50th anniversary of raid on draft offices
To those who forced their way into the downtown Milwaukee offices of the Selective Service System on Sept. 24, 1968, the break-in wasn’t just an act of civil disobedience.
To Bob Graf, it was literally a matter of life and death.
“I felt like I was saving a drowning person,” said the former Jesuit seminarian.
He was among a group that included five Catholic priests and a minister from the Church of Scientology. It was the height of the Vietnam War when the “Milwaukee 14” took thousands of draft records from the offices and set them ablaze near North 1st and West Wells streets.
“In the war, people had to kill or be killed,” Graf said.
“When you were drafted, you had to kill or be killed.”
This weekend, several surviving members of the Milwaukee 14 and others involved in local peace and justice movements of the day are gathering in Milwaukee to mark the 50th anniversary of the night a group devoted to peace stormed a portal to war.
About 200 veterans of Milwaukee’s open housing marches, the Marquette University student movement of the 1960s and current and former members of the Casa Maria/Catholic Worker community are expected to attend the four-day event.
The gathering will include a multimedia show, speakers and discussions at Central United Methodist Church, 639 N. 25th St., and a memorial service Monday at North 12th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.
Along with commemorating the raid on the draft offices, the memorial will also recognize those killed in eight global conflicts involving the U.S. military since 2001, Graf said.
“The killing is much more intense than in 1968,” Graf said.
“We didn’t have drones in Vietnam.” The raid on the Milwaukee draft offices was a direct outgrowth of the Catonsville Nine action in Maryland on May 17, 1968, where nine antiwar activists led by the Rev. Philip Berrigan burned draft records after a raid on the local Selective Service office.
Later that year, Doug Marvy, then a young civil rights activist from St. Paul, Minnesota, met other activists associated with the raid at a retreat out east, where similar actions — including the raid on the Milwaukee draft offices — were being planned.
“I chose to oppose the American invasion of Vietnam, and engaging in the nonviolent civil disobedience in Milwaukee seemed an excellent tactic to heighten public resistance,” recalled Marvy, now 77.
“I was apprehensive about the mechanics of the burglary — there were many details, several unknowns, and I was the ‘project manager’.”
News reporters were invited to the unspecified event that was to take place on the green space across from the draft offices in what was then the Brumder Building, (now the Germania) at 135 W. Wells St.
After business hours, group members entered the building. They snatched the keys to the Selective Service office from a custodian and loaded the draft records in bags while other members carried cans of fuel — “homemade napalm” — to the small park across the street.
After setting the records on fire, the protesters sang songs and read Gospel verses before being arrested.
Marvy still vividly remembers what followed.
“The ride in the (police) wagon, the initial lockup in the drunk tank, the first night on a bench in a cell of my own, all of us in a cell awaiting bail, and on,” he recalled.
All 14 were charged with being party to burglary, theft and arson to property.
Twelve were convicted in state court of all charges and sentenced to two years in prison, but they all received early paroles. The other two were convicted in federal court and spent about a year in prison.
Graf, then a member of the Casa Maria/Catholic Worker community, said he was willing to accept his punishment.
“I was influenced a lot by Jesuit spirituality and faith issues, and I was taught to practice what you preach,” he said.
“The Milwaukee 14 action was something that was called for, an outgrowth of what I believe,” he said.
“It was based on conscience but formed by faith.”
Today at 75, Graf continues his antiwar activism.
“War doesn’t go away,” said Graf, pointing to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria.
“Some of us haven’t changed,” he said.
“We’re still involved in works of mercy and resistance.”