FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Frederick H. Chard

                                                                              Email: frdcharddc@yahoo.com

Phone Number: 425-628-8888

A Soldier’s Conscience: New Memoir Sheds Light on a Hidden Chapter of Vietnam War History

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER by Frederick H. Chard

LOCATION —Seattle, Washington 

 
In a bold and deeply personal memoir, I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER, Frederick H. Chard breaks decades of silence to reveal a buried truth about the Vietnam War — one lived not on the front lines, but in the shadows of military intelligence.

This newly released book recounts Chard’s service in the United States Army Security Agency (ASA), a secretive intelligence branch tasked with intercepting enemy communications during the height of the war. From 1966 to 1968 — one of the most turbulent times in American memory, when the world seemed to teetering on the edge of chaos — Chard operated with top-secret clearance, privy to battle plans and classified information unknown to the American public. But as the war intensified and the cost in human lives became staggering, Chard found himself at a moral crossroads.

In February 1968, still in uniform and on active duty, Chard stood in front of television cameras in San Francisco and publicly protested the war as a conscientious objector — the first ASA soldier to do so. His principled resistance, broadcast by major networks, stunned the nation and brought a rare voice from inside the intelligence community to the antiwar movement. Yet Chard’s protest stopped short of whistleblowing: he refused to share classified secrets, upholding his oath while demanding peace.

“I didn’t want to betray my country,” Chard writes. “I wanted to save it from betraying itself.”

Decades before Edward Snowden would ignite controversy with NSA leaks, Chard faced a similar choice. He, too, held top-level intelligence clearance. But rather than exposing secrets that could jeopardize lives, Chard chose the lonelier path: public, nonviolent resistance.

His memoir explores this moral struggle with honesty and nuance, offering a rare glimpse into the burdens of secrecy, the complexities of patriotism, and the human cost of war. It is a powerful account of one man’s refusal to remain silent — and a reminder that acts of conscience often come not with applause, but with risk and sacrifice.

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER is more than a personal memoir. It is a call to examine the hidden machinery behind war, and the courage it takes to speak out from within it.

 The I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER ebook and audiobook is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, and other popular retail outlets where ebooks and audiobooks are sold. The audiobook is also available from Amazon.