Dave Cline, 1947 – 2007, We’ll Miss You Brother

http://www.ivaw.org/node/1714

Dave Cline, Vietnam veteran, GI organizer, and anti-war leader, passed away last night, September 14. Dave will be deeply missed, and was a great inspiration and leader for those of us currently fighting to end the war in Iraq. IVAW wouldn’t be as powerful as we are today if it had not been for Dave’s dedication and mentorship. There couldn’t be a better friend and ally than him when it came to building a GI and veteran movement to end the Iraq war. Dave was a Vietnam veteran, an infantry soldier who was wounded three times and became a key leader in the GI resistance to the Vietnam war. Dave was an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and worked in the Oleo Strut, a GI coffeehouse outside of Ft. Hood, TX, where he helped organize active-duty soldiers to end the war.

Many of us at IVAW remember Dave as the president of Veterans For Peace, and got to know him during different marches, rallies, and VFP conventions. Dave stood beside us the day IVAW was founded, and we are sad that he’ll no longer be at our side as we continue in our fight to end the war. He was always there; ready to help his fellow veterans and peace activists. From the very beginning of Iraq Veterans Against the War’s formation, Dave helped us build our organization and never hesitated to give us whatever guidance we needed. He was an integral part of IVAW, and served on our interim board of directors.

Once, when asked about why he became an anti-war organizer, Dave said, "When you just went through an experience of that nature, and you find out that it's all lies and that they're just lying to the American people and your silence means you're a part of keeping that lie going—I couldn't stop. I mean I couldn't be silent." Dave wasn’t silent, and his voice has been an inspiration and motivation for all of us. We’ll keep the fight going and help to honor his life by ending this war and occupation. Long live Dave Cline!



uhc comment: RIP, Brother Dave.

maq USAF retired

I just saw him at the VFP Convention a month ago. They honored him with a lifetime membership. He was a very inspiring person and we owe him so much. This makes me very sad. :cry:

Friends,

This just in from VFP Director Michael McPhearson:

I regret to inform you that sometime last night David Cline died. I
have very few details and I or someone will provide more as they are
available.

Most of you know that David was a giant in the Veteran's anti-war and
Peace movements. A national coordinator and long time member of
Vietnam Veterans Against the War as well as former President of
Veterans For Peace, David was a crucial part of the explosion in
VFP's growth and led us in our planning and actions as we have
resisted the invasion and occupation of Iraq. David was a giant among
people who motivated all of us to action by modeling leadership and
providing inspiration.

David was my boss, mentor, friend and I loved him. He recruited me
into VFP by simply being the person he was, a veteran working for
peace. There are few people outside of my family whose death means
such a loss to me personally. There are few in our nation whose loss
means so much to our movement.

A quote David loved so much guided his thoughts and actions. He
carried it in his wallet so that he could whip it out to motivate us
at any time. Of course he also had it memorized.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to
favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many
waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical
one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never
will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found
out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed
upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either
words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by
the endurance of those whom they oppress." Frederick Douglass

David Cline we Salute You.

Michael T. McPhearson

Veterans For Peace

Executive Director

314 725-6005

peace: One step at a time.

I went with Dave and some other veterans (I think you drove the van) from the area down to DC in 04 to counter the Veterans for Truth (aka KKK)who were having an anti Kerry rally where they would have burned a cross if they could have.
Dave was truly dedicated to peace and against unwarranted war for profit as we are witnessing today.
I inquired as to his whereabouts at the anti-war rally in Newark on August 25, and was informed he was too ill to attend. He was a tireless advocate for working people and good will toward others. So I'll steal a bit from the bard of Stratford.
"His life was gentle,
And the elements so mixed in him
That Nature might stand up and say to all the World,
'This was a man.'"
RIP brother Dave
Keep me posted as to any memorial and/or funeral service.

Let us all recommit ourselves to the idea that peace is patriotic.

It is Here and then it's Gone.

When I was a boy, they were the Old Ones. The Veterans of WWI, old grey men with their memories and grandchildren. And they would die all the time.

By the time I had children, the Old Ones were the veterans of WWII.

Then they started dying at an ever-increasing rate.

Now They are Us.

Voices such as Dave's are precious, prodding.

Someone has to stand up and shout (albeit a soft shout).

Without people like Dave, there is nothing save for an ongoing rush of wind which will scatter everything in its path.

May he find himself in Heaven before the Devil even knows he's gone.

Rest easy, Brother.

Tom

:patriot:

Long live Dave Cline!

Sonia

"Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

(Mary Frye – 1932)

Rest well in God's loving embrace brave solider. You Sir, are a True American Hero and are remembered by a grateful nation."


"If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam"