Vietnam era FREE PAT, DAN & PHIL pinback buttons

Political prisoner buttons from 1972 and 1968 and I think are the LAST of my VIETNAM era collection to be uploaded, I have a few others mostly "Day Glow" buttons that don't scan well so these are likely the last. (until I find more) WWII - R.F.K. or NASA? to be uploaded next.

1st - GIs UNITE - FREE Pat Chenoweth 1.250 diameter from 1972

Pat Chenoweth was facing 30 years in military prison for destruction of government property and wartime sabotage. He was accused of dropping a paint scraper and two large bolts into the main reduction gear of the USS Ranger causing it some $800,000 in damage and delaying its departure to Vietnam for 4 months. Alarmed at the increasing acts of resistance, the Navy has singled out Pat as a scapegoat, hoping to thereby repress dissent. The truth is that there was not enough evidence to warrant a courts-martial. Throughout the armed forces acts of resistance and sabotage had become so commonplace as to really freakout the Brass. GI's discontent and frustration with the Navy's repression and racism had sparked incidents all over the world. The Ranger alone has had some 30 acts of sabotage from May to September 1972

2nd - FREE DAN & PHIL 1.250 diameter, from 1968 a rather plain button but a hard to find one that has sold for $75 and more, I lucked out finding this one for under $5
Daniel Joseph Berrigan May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016
Philip Francis Berrigan October 5, 1923 – December 6, 2002
(Father Phil Berrigan a Roman Catholic priest)

Brothers Dan and Phil Berrigan first came on the scene with 2 others who became know as "The Baltimore Four" when they occupied the Selective Service Board in the Customs House, Baltimore, on Friday, October 27, 1967

Then on May 17, 1968 with seven others who held a dramatic protest against the Vietnam War. They invaded the selective service office in Catonsville, Maryland, pulled draft files out of their cabinets, piled them outside, and set them afire with homemade napalm. The protesters, immediately arrested, became known as the Catonsville Nine. They were convicted, and when their appeals were exhausted, Phil Berrigan and Dan Berrigan refused to give themselves up and went into hiding.

Then Phil was charged in 1971 as part of "The Harrisburg Seven" when the anti-war activists were caught trading letters alluding to kidnapping Henry Kissinger and bombing steam tunnels.

Finely as part of The "Plowshares Movement" On September 9, 1980, Phil Berrigan, his brother Daniel, and six others (the 'Plowshares Eight') began the Plowshares Movement when they entered the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads were made. They hammered on two nose cones, poured blood on documents and offered prayers for peace. They were arrested and initially charged with over ten different felony and misdemeanor counts.

Peace