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On September 1st, 1987, Vietnam veteran S. Brian Willson and two other vets Duncan Murphy and David Duncombe, were present on a train track to block a train carrying weapons and explosives from the Concord Naval Weapons Station. It was day one of a planned 40-day fast and act of civil disobedience to protest the bloody US-funded wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Willson and his colleagues expected the train would stop and they would be arrested. However, the train increased in speed, and when it was apparent that it had no intention of stopping, Murphy and Duncombe managed to escape the train. Only Willson was left trapped on the tracks as the train shockingly sped over his body. With one leg severed and the other irreparably mangled, and with part of his skull torn off, it seemed likely that he wouldn’t survive. But S. Brian Willson did survive the horrific attack 24 years ago albeit with both his legs amputated. His story gained widespread attention, inspiring increased activism against the US wars he was protesting. Willson went on to remain politically active, particularly in war tax resistance, and the practice of civil disobedience. S. Brian Willson tells his story and the transformative politics that has characterized his life in a brand new book, named after Bob Dylan’s best known album Blood on the Tracks. The book has an introduction by Daniel Ellsberg.

GUEST: S. Brian Willson, author of Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson

S. Brian Willson will be speaking at the Ventura Unitarian Universalist Church, 5654 Ralston Street, Ventura on Friday September 2nd, at 7 pm.

Willson will also be hosted at the home of Frank and Jane Dorrel. 3967 Shedd Terrace, Culver City, on Saturday September 3rd at 6:30 pm.

Willson is speaking at numerous events across Southern California including San Pedro, Santa Monica, Anaheim, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. Visit www.bloodonthetracks.info for more information about his speaking tour, or call 310-838-8131 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              310-838-8131      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.