Fugitive of Injustice: The Biographical True Story of Two Brothers' Exemption, Induction, Suspension, Investigation, Escape and Presidential Pardon from the US Army Draft

By William Eliot D

A true life series of unbelievable events starts when real life New Yorker, Matthew Douglas drops a college class which makes him eligible for the draft in 1967. Shortly after, the government launches an investigation into Anti-American activities after Matthew volunteers his time to serve soup at a homeless shelter suspected for being communist. This launches a multitude of incredible, but true, events for two brothers. Fugitive of Injustice provides an intimate, somber, and detailed account of this "stranger than fiction" biographical, personal history of a draftee.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Eliot D
• Release date: Nov 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466131231

William Eliot D

A world traveler of 50 countries, professor and writer living in East Asia

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Fugitives of Injustice: The Biographical True Story of Two Brothers' Exemption, Induction, Suspention, Investigation, Escape and Presidential Pardon from the US Army Draft

William Eliot D

Copyright © 2011 by William Eliot D

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. The Fugitives of Injustice cover page and/or review paragraph can be used on blogs and webpages, without request . For permission requests for use of further content, email to [e-mail]

I have tried to recreate events, locales and facts. In order to maintain anonymity, I have changed the names of individuals and removed specific names of places. I may have changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties, and places of residence. Furthermore, the author has used a pseudonym

Cover Illustration Copyright © 2011 by William Eliot D.

Content Contributors: Margaret, Matthew and Sean Douglas

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Chapter 1

University Students Exempt From The Draft - Or Are They?

Matthew, a draft resister, grew up in several towns and cities outside New York City - New Rochelle and White Plains being the main ones. These would be the places his family called home for the longest period of time, even though they moved more than six times to a variety of working class neighbourhoods. Matthew’s father had a steady job at a large electric company, but with four children living on a single income, they were forced to move.

Of the four children, Matthew and his sister Suzy (the oldest) would find an interest in scholastics and a desire to enter university as a way to find a better life, like so many other baby-boomers. But Matthew didn’t have an inherent love of school in the earlier years like his older sister. In fact, Suzy would have to drag him by his ear just to get him to school on certain mornings.

No member of Matthew’s family had received more than a high school education. So Matthew drifted from practical to commercial courses without any direction. Only by luck, when Matthew’s family had moved to the fringes of an area of Westchester where more affluent people lived, did Matthew discover from the students in his high school that college was even possible.

Suzy, on the other hand, had a passion for learning and scored straight A grades throughout her school years up until high school graduation. She won a partial scholarship and her teachers encouraged her parents to send her to college, but in the later part of the 1950’s, Suzy’s father didn’t have the funds to send her to college. Also, Suzy’s father and many of his generation expected their daughters to go to work to help provide for the family. The family traditions, then, for working class Irish Americans were that daughters weren’t suppose to go to college. In short, without financial support from the family or state, Suzy went to work for a phone company in New York City doing the grave yard shift connecting calls the old fashioned way (like you see in those black and white movies in the 1940s) which was to plug phone cables into the switch board. This was a reality far from her ideal place - university. Her hopes would be dashed for many years that followed.

However, in the end, Suzy would accomplish great things - becoming a regional manager, and even going to college while working. She continued after an early retirement thanks to a lucrative, golden handshake - a testimony to her intelligence and success – and thanks to the incredible opportunities available in the US graduated as a mature student.

But Matthew, despite not having the natural desire for obtaining top marks in his earlier