By 1968 it became clear the U.S. was mired in a war it could not win. At the end of January 1968, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong launched the “Tet Offensive” -- simultaneously attacking dozens of targets across their country. Their…

Capt. Brendan Sullivan was one of the Army defense attorneys for the first group of GIs to be tried. He wrote 40 years later about how profoundly the experience affected him: “27 soldiers housed in the stockade at the Presidio sat down in the yard of…

If you’d asked the Presidio 27 about the tenor of their treatment in the months they awaited hearings and trials, they would have told you that the overcrowding diminished, and painting and repairs commenced. But that the stockade officials and staff…

Why else might the African Americans in the stockade have decided not to participate that day? All of the U.S. was simmering in racial tensions in 1968, as the Black Power Movement gained momentum, and racism was embedded in the hearts and minds of…

Throughout the entire Bay Area, and even across the country, the public heard about Keith Mather's protest in the “Nine for Peace” through the widespread coverage in the press. Keith was a local boy who grew up in San Bruno, so he was both singled…

General Larsen was known as confident military man, and he had a track record of boldly challenging higher ups about military strategy. Before taking command of the Presidio, he had been chief of all Army forces in South Vietnam. General…

But why is the stockade so crowded in 1968? One reason is that Haight-Ashbury is “ground zero” of the peace, love and drug-infused counterculture that gained notoriety the year before with the Summer of Love -- so the city of San Francisco has…

Suggestion: Walk up closer to the large image of the Military Police looming over the demonstration. Skip the text? Jump to  ↘ media   The Presidio 27 drew inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement they’d seen on TV — they sang We Shall Overcome,…