Eric Schuster
Posted June 6, 2026
The Chicago anti-war Memorial Day event took on greater urgency and militancy in 2026 as ICE kidnappings and Veterans’ Administration cuts wallop veterans and reservists. Nearly 200 vets, many aligned with About Face – Veterans Against the War, joined families, supporters, labor union members, and anti-ICE activists to rally at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial next to the Chicago River. The rally and march were distinguished by bright yellow placards that read ‘Vets Say No More Rich Man’s Wars’ (clearly visible to the crowds aboard packed tour boats slowly trolling the adjacent riverbank). The event was initiated decades ago by the Chicago chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).
Speakers included Air Force veteran Nick Podjasek, of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, who slammed the MAGA cuts that have weakened the VA’s capacity to provide care. “Veterans will not make it to next year, because they don’t have months to wait for care when they’re in crises,” he said. “This is not community care, this is cruelty.” Similarly, American Federation of Government Employees Local 789 member Stephanie Dowell tearfully recounted the heartbreak VA employees experience because they are increasingly unable to provide care for veterans.
Chicago Teachers Union (AFT/IFT Local 1) Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo railed against the terrifying social costs of rampant militarization: to education, to democracy, and to her own family, as she recounted the suicide of a beloved uncle traumatized by his tour in Vietnam. Speakers also noted their debt to the late Barry Romo, a VVAW organizer and Chicago activist who worked on behalf of homeless vets, helped to force the VA to recognize PTSD, was bombed by his own country while visiting North Vietnam alongside a movie star, and helped organize the Chicago Memorial Day anti-war event for more than two decades – all while serving as an American Postal Workers Union steward on the night shift for nearly 30 years.
Iraq war vet and About Face member Aaron Hughes, an organizer of the famous rally outside the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit where dozens of vets poignantly and angrily returned their medals, echoed Romo’s understanding of the centrality of opposing militarism. “It’s the rotting core of every aspect of society,” Hughes told Solidarity. “Vets from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, we all say No – no more rich man’s war, and no to militarism.”
Monica Coleman, of North Chicago VA and a member of National Nurses United (which recently won a protracted contract battle at UChicago Medicine), condemned MAGA warmongering and praised the anti-war vision of the assembled vets. “No war, no cuts,” she demanded to a roaring crowd. “The cost of war does not end when the fighting stops – it follows veterans and their families and communities in ways that nobody else can understand. As healthcare workers, we see staffing shortages, delays in care, and burnout among workers. When frontline workers are stretched beyond capacity, veterans suffer.” Coleman, mother of a Navy reservist, later told Solidarity that “The meaning of today’s event is this: National Nurses United is against war.”
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