March 21, 2005
By MIKE FERNER
Remarks commemorating the Second Anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq given at rallies in Columbus March 19 and Cleveland March 20, 2005
As we gather here this afternoon, our colleagues in Toledo are debuting “Arlington at Toledo,” a cemetery with over 1700 white, wooden tombstones to commemorate each U.S. soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
March 29, 1995
Bowling Green State University
Remarks by Mike Ferner
My thanks to the organizers of today’s rally for inviting me to speak. Students at BGSU and around the nation today can be proud for organizing the first large-scale response to the madness emanating from Washington. Too many of our leaders, such as local elected officials, sit by silently, uttering not a peep of protest, watching Congressional votes that will cause millions of citizens to demand help from city and state governments. As happens often in times of national crisis, students help lead the way. If the people lead, the leaders eventually will follow. Hopefully some of the students here today will become those leaders. It would be an improvement.
January 14, 1991
Promenade Park
by Toledo City Councilman Mike Ferner
(Note: After months of military buildup in the Persian Gulf, President Bush set a deadline of January 15, 1991 to commence an air and ground war against Iraqi forces if they did not withdraw from Kuwait. Several religious and peace organizations sponsored a demonstration in downtown Toledo to protest the Bush policy. About 1,500 people attended.)
It is a distinct privilege to be asked to speak at this important gathering, and I wish to thank the organizers of this demonstration for that invitation and their work culminating here today.
My road to this point began in earnest 21 years ago. I served in the U.S.Navy Hospital Corps during the Viet Nam war, working at the Naval Hospital at Great Lakes, Illinois.
During that time, I frequently went on Medevac runs to the Glenview Naval Air Station. We rode out to Glenview in what were essentially school buses painted battleship gray. The main difference between our bus and a school bus was that instead of seats, ours had rows of hooks onto which we would load stretchers bearing the wounded soldiers coming back from Viet Nam.
