Korean War veteran Ken Perkins was a founding member of Veterans For Peace (VFP) in July 1985, along with Reverend Willard Bicket, Jerry Genesio, Judy Genesio, and Doug Rawlings. At VFP’s first organizational meeting that month, Perkins said that he and his comrades had created the group to “combat the John Wayne syndrome” and to demonstrate that “not all of us agree with the gung-ho, extra-conservative politics” of traditional veterans’ organizations. Moreover, Perkins and his VFP comrades deplored the Reagan Administration’s effort to assist the Contras of Nicaragua in their battle against that country’s Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government.

Further Reading: “Vets For Peace Offers Alternative, One Founder Says” (Lewiston Journal, 7-15-1985)