Film, Forum to Focus on Price of Endless U.S. Wars

Vietnam War veteran turned antiwar activist S. Brian Willson, who was nearly killed when he was struck by a Navy munitions train during a 1987 protest, will speak at the screening of the documentary "Paying the Price for Peace" at a Community Forum in Newbury Park on Sunday, March 13.

Willson appears in the 2015 film along with well-known peace activists Ron Kovic, author of "Born on the Fourth of July," Daniel Ellsberg, Martin Sheen, Cindy Sheehan, Alice Walker and others. He and associate producer Frank Dorrel will lead a discussion after the 7 p.m. screening at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

On Sept. 1, 1987, Willson was struck and dragged 25 feet by a military train when he and others blocked tracks at the Concord Naval Weapons Center to protest U.S. arms shipments to Central America. Willson, unable to get off the tracks in time, ultimately lost both legs below the knee and suffered a severe skull fracture.

Willson served as an Air Force combat security officer in Vietnam. After his wartime experiences and his discharge as a captain in 1970, he later joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. He studied law at American University, was admitted to the bar and over the years traveled and wrote about U.S. policies in nearly two dozen countries. He has participated in fasts and protests and authored two books, "Blood on the Tracks" and "My Country Is the World."

Activists in the film, produced and directed by Bo Boudart and narrated by Peter Coyote, say that the United States has made countless enemies with aggressive and counterproductive policies around the world. Boudart has said in an online posting that his intent was to open Americans' eyes to the true cost of America's military interventions.

The Community Forum at 3327 Old Conejo Road is free and open to the public; donations will be accepted. For information, call (805) 498-9401 or visit cvuuf.org/community-forum.