Hi friend,

I need you to hear this story. In 1969 Peter Hagerty, Navy ROTC instructor, inspected a destroyer the way he was supposed to. 

He followed the rules. The ship was in bad shape. He told his superior that the hairline crack on the barrels of the guns could cause an explosion. He said he would not approve the ship for battle. 

The captain told Peter "you're a goddamn agitator” and said he would court-martial him. 

He found an attorney, Lt Lowell Noteboom, to defend him as he refused to go to Vietnam. In his place, a University of South Carolina basketball player was sent and killed in the Tonkin Gulf when the gun mount on the destroyer self-exploded and seven other men were killed as well.

Hagerty, motivated by guilt that his class background spared him from fighting the Navy in court, became involved in GI rights for men who went AWOL. 

In this short bonus episode you will hear more of his story as Hagerty goes to Vietnam to represent soldiers who were accused of crimes. 

Ultimately, he kept showing up doing work that wasn’t easy to help fight for what was right — in the streets of Cambridge, in the jungles of Vietnam, and back in Porter Maine — advocating for peace.

We hope you enjoy this episode and are inspired by his story. 

In solidarity,

— Dylan

A Matter of Conscience

Listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or other platforms. 

(FYI: "GI" is slang referring to soldiers as “Government Issued” equipment.)