Peace walkers come to Bridgeport

     

         By Reginald Johnson

        BRIDGEPORT, CT ---- A group of veterans and others taking part in the “Peace Walk 2024” from Maine to Washington, DC came to Bridgeport yesterday bringing their message of peace, nuclear disarmament and an end to war.

  Participants in the 700-mile walk organized by Veterans for Peace, which began May 7 in Ogunquit, Maine, walked along Route 1 from Milford and Stratford and then into Bridgeport following Barnum Avenue and then onto other streets over to downtown and then eventually to the Islamic Community Center on State Street. The walkers held aloft the Veterans for Peace flag, the Palestinian flag and a huge black and red banner which read “Ceasefire Now.”

   As they stopped for a bite to eat at Frankie’s Diner on Barnum Avenue the walkers and others who accompanied them in support vehicles said they came from all over the country for the peace walk. Alexis said she was from a small town near Sacramento California; Tito was from a town near Waco, Texas; Russell and Diane were from Buffalo, New York. Another participant was from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 Others joining the group at the diner were Jim from West Haven and Angelo from Milford.

  “We’re kind of a band from every different location, right?” said Alexis.

  She said she found out about the walk by looking at the Veterans for Peace website because she was looking for peace walks to participate in.

 “I knew about Veterans for Peace but I’d never been involved with them,” she said. “So here I am deeply involved with Veterans for Peace.”

  Alexis and the others said they were taking part because they want to see an end to wars in general but were particularly motivated recently because of the brutal war that is going on in Gaza. Israel is waging a relentless campaign in the Palestinian enclave and some 34,000 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed. There have been widespread calls for a cease-fire but so far Israel has balked at stopping its military assault. The Biden administration is being criticized strongly for continuing to send arms aid to Israel.

         

Participants in the Veterans for Peace "Peace Walk 2024" stop at Frankies Diner in Bridgeport. The walk, a protest against wars and militarism, began in Ogunquit, Maine and will end in Washington, DC in July.

 

Several members of the group were veterans of the Vietnam War. Angelo, who is 95, is a veteran of the Korean War.

 Friday the group will march to Black Rock in Bridgeport then into Fairfield and continue in the next few days into lower Fairfield County and New York State.

   The peace walk will conclude on July 5 in Washington, DC and participants will take part in a demonstration against NATO which is holding its 75^th anniversary celebration.