Biography
Lance Corporal Robert A. Falatine was one of the "Iwakuni 5" — five U.S. Marines stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, and members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War / Winter Soldiers Organization. As The Black Panther reported (September 14, 1974), they were arrested July 12-13, 1974 and charged with violating a local Marine Corps order barring off-base distribution of a petition by off-duty personnel without command approval, after they circulated a letter — addressed to Senator J.W. Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — documenting the repression of democratic freedoms under the U.S.-backed Park Chung Hee dictatorship in South Korea. Special courts-martial began August 28, 1974; the five argued the charge was an unconstitutional restriction on their right to petition Congress.