As protesters returned home Sunday after their weekend rally in Washington against an attack on Iraq, there were few complaints about spending 30 hours on a bus or marching six hours in subfreezing temperatures.
“Come on, I’m from Wisconsin. That cold weather was child’s play,” said protester David Parker, 24. “I was just happy to be part of the good show of support for solidarity, and it’s encouraging to know this could have been the largest anti-war protest in American history.”
U.S. Park Police do not issue crowd estimates in such cases, so it was impossible to say for certain how it compared to other anti-war protests. Without a doubt, tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday.
On Sunday, the number had dwindled as two marches converged outside the White House, where several hundred people rallied at police barricades. Sixteen people were arrested after crossing a police line.
The contingent from Madison made it back to the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union on Sunday, among them 50-year-old Bill O’Donnell.
O’Donnell said he was skeptical of signing up for the student-organized trip because he thought he “was going to be on the bus with a bunch of 18-year-olds who could have been my kids.”
O’Donnell voted for President Bush in 2000 and said his recent change in political orientation made him nervous. But before he boarded the bus, he saw Steve Kilkus, a veteran of anti-war protests in the early `70s, holding a sign for the protesters that read simply “Thank you.”
Kilkus had paid to ride the bus but was unable to attend, so he gave his ticket to another anti-war activist and stood with the sign to show his appreciation for those making the trip.
“That man started everything off on the right note for me,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said he was amazed at the demographics of the 42 people on the bus. The riders, who ranged in age from early teens to late 60s, included Helen Findley, 69, of Madison, who felt compelled to go.
“Not that I’m sure Bush and his administration are going to change their war plans,” Findley said. “I don’t have a wad of hope for that.”
Upon returning Sunday, O’Donnell had only one disappointment: “I half-expected the man with the sign to be welcoming us as the buses pulled back up to Memorial Union.”
