Biography
Second Lieutenant Henry H. Howe Jr. was a U.S. Army officer stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, and one of the first American servicemen court-martialed for antiwar protest. Off duty and in civilian clothes on November 6, 1965, he marched in a small antiwar demonstration in El Paso carrying a hand-lettered sign reading "End Johnson's Fascist Aggression in Vietnam." He was court-martialed for using contemptuous words against the President and conduct unbecoming an officer, sentenced to two years' hard labor at Fort Leavenworth and dismissed from the Army. His case became an early cause célèbre of the GI antiwar movement; the sentence was reduced on review and he was released after a few months amid public pressure.
Second Lieutenant Henry Howe Jr. was an Army officer at Fort Bliss, Texas who on November 6, 1965 attended an antiwar demonstration in El Paso while off duty and out of uniform, carrying a sign reading 'Let's have more than a choice between petty ignorant facists [sic] in 1968' and 'End Johnson's Facist [sic] Aggression in Vietnam.' He was court-martialed under UCMJ Article 88 (contempt toward officials) and Article 134 (conduct prejudicial to good order), convicted, and sentenced to two years at hard labor and dismissal from the service. Despite filing for civilian relief, his conviction was sustained. He served his sentence at Fort Leavenworth's Disciplinary Barracks, becoming a touchstone case for First Amendment rights of in-uniform military personnel during Vietnam.
