OPPOSITION CONGRATULATED

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

May I, an old soldier and veteran of both World Wars, now retired, use a small amount of your space to congratulate the student leaders of the colleges and universities in your area for their active and open opposition to the Johnson Administration war against the Vietnamese people. This is a brutal, cruel and disgraceful war the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government is fighting half way around the world.

Naturally, I cannot advise any young man to refuse to serve when drafted, because I cannot serve his sentence for him if and when convicted for refusing to serve. But I can, and each of us can, oppose the military draft and use all possible legal powers to have the draft abolished instead of revised as is currently proposed.

The security of the people of the United States is in no manner whatever endangered by the peasant people of Vietnam. The Johnson Administration can arrange a cease fire any day it chooses to accept the terms of the 1954 Geneva Agreement. If President Johnson would do this, he would raise the prestige of this nation and his own to the highest point in history. Hugh B. Hester   Brigadier General U.S. Army (Ret.)

(The writer served in U.S. Regular Army for more than 30 years. He served in WWI as a combat officer and was decorated by the French and U.S. governments for gallantry in action. As a staff officer in WW II, he was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal and the French Legion of Honor for this service.--Ed)