Currentourlife5 18 17

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Discovering The Mature Lifestyle What are yo your local veterans up to today? See inside

Veterans terans Issue

May 18, 2017

May 2017

Richfield vet heads up local Veterans for Peace group BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Steve McK eown w as dr afted in 1965 and served for two years as a r adio operator in V ietnam. He’s got the effects of Agent Orange to prove it. Since 1986, the Richfield resident has been the linchpin f or the local cha pter of V eterans for P eace, an or ganization tha t includes se veral hundr ed v ets from Minnea polis-St. P aul and the suburban areas. “We’re mainly an educa tional group,� McK eown said. “W e’re using our experience to speak at schools, chur ches and colleges . We w ork with other or ganizations for peace.� VFP cele brates Ar mistice Day on No v. 11 with bell ringing, rather than a 21-gun salute. They get to gether on r etreats, enjoy social activities and get to know each other’s families. “We have a lot of v olunteers at the V eteran’s Administr ation,� McKeown said. “It’s what we do.� The gr oup bought a little school bus that is designated an education center for peace. “I’m kind of excited about it,� McKeown said. “We travel around in it and promote the idea of peace.� The VFP cha pter also sponsors a speech and essa y contest, as well as suppl ying banners to schools and sponsoring peace poles. One of McK eown’s big efforts is to educa te people a bout the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an international agreement signed in 1928 in w hich signa tory sta tes

promised not to use w ar to r esolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they ma y be, w hich ma y arise among them.� The P act, officially known as a Gener al Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National P olicy, stipula ted tha t parties failing to a bide b y the promise “should be denied the benefits furnished b y this tr eaty.� The P act renounces the use of war and stipulates that signatories should settle disputes in a peaceful manner. Fifteen na tions signed first, and 47 signed la ter. “It w as the greatest peace mo vement the world has e ver seen, � McK eown said. “The pact passed 85-1 in the Sena te. The onl y person against it said it w asn’t str ong enough. That shows what’s possible. All the P ost Of fices displayed the pact. Can y ou imagine that happening?� The pact w as signed b y Ger many, F rance and the United States first, and then b y most other countries . “The pact has been tough to enf orce,� McK eown said. “But it’ s still law, like the Indian tr eaty. Some people say it’s too idealistic.� It is named f or its authors , U.S. Secr etary of Sta te F rank B. K ellogg and F rench Foreign Minister Aristide Briand. K ellogg won the Nobel P eace Prize in 1929. Kellogg Boulevard in St. Paul was named for Kellogg, who was a Minnesota r esident, McK eown said. K ellogg w as born in New York, moved to Minnesota as a y oung bo y, and pr acticed

and after he served in Vietnam. McKeown’s fa ther serv ed in the U .S. Ar my and spent 32 months in comba t with the 3r d Infantry Di vision, mainl y in North Africa, Sicil y, and Ital y, including Anzio . He w on the Bronze Star f or br avery under fire. McKeown also has a niece and nephew who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He w ent to college on the GI bill, a ttending Nor mandale Community College and getting a degree in geography from the Uni versity of Minnesota in 1978. McK eown w orked as a machinist, and has li ved in Richfield f or 46 y ears in w hat he calls “a tight-knit neighbor hood.� After his first wife died, McKeown met the w oman who w ould become his second wife, Joan Johnson, on the Lake Str eet-Marshall A venue “peace bridge� over the Mississippi River in 1999. The couple helped to start the weekly peace vigil of activists that still gather on the bridge a t 5 p .m. e very Wednesday f or an hour -long vigil against war. The McK eowns ar e both active in peace and justice issues thr ough their chur ch, and also ar e a vid gar deners in the started early in his life . “I kne w Richfield Comm unity Gar den. about the [Kellogg-Briand] pact McKeown and VFP Pr esident in high school in Elkton, South Larry Johnson go to annual theDakota,� McK eown said. “I ology classes at the Academy of paid attention to war.� the Holy Angels in Richfield. His grandfather was wounded The J ohnsons ha ve tw o sons in WWI w hen he serv ed in the and a granddaughter. French-Canadian Ar my, and McKeown lived with him before

Steve and Joan McKeown work together on social justice issues, including Veterans for Peace. (Submitted photo) law in Rochester in 1877. He was the city a ttorney of R ochester from 1878-81 and then the Olmsted County attorney. He moved to St. Paul in 1886.

Past experiences McKeown’s intense interest in banishing interna tional conflict

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