THE CHALLENGE IS OVER!

After looking at the markings on this article, I realize the first version, 204 BZM,  is what I turned in. The second version was edited, but never sent out on the wire, and was missing the seagull screams; it seems quite likely Dave Haskell edited it.

Sept. 8 was the day before school started in Boston on September 8, 1975, the second year of mandatory busing of black students from Roxbury into predominately Irish South Boston to end segregation of the Boston Public Schools, under the orders of US District Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. Had it been transmitted, it would have run in afternoon newspapers of Sept. 8, 1975 or possibly morning newspapers of Sept. 9. It was a feature story, to accompany the main Boston busing story, slugged BH-Boston. I have no proof of its existence, outside of an internal computer queue, BZM, in the Boston Bureau.

 BH-Guard 9-8

With Boston

Day Lead

By Paul E. Schindler Jr.

Boston (UPI) — Seagull screams cut the salt-spray air as National Guardsmen leaned out the fifth-floor windows of the Fargo building into pre-dawn sunlight today.

The 600-man and three-woman battalion had been up since 4 a.m., in case they here needed to replace Boston police involved in a contract dispute. But, when police showed up, officials said the guard would “not be used at this time.”

All the window-leaners could see has Summer Street, the docks two blocks away and the surrounding industrial area, on the fringe of potential trouble spot South Boston.

Maj. Gen. Vahan Vartanian watched his men. They used the building’s single elevator or its ill-lit stairwell to return to the fifth floor, after an Army-style breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, pineapple juice and cereal.

Vartanian, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, said
there were “no lethal weapons whatsoever” in the building, by order of Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Responding to charges that the Massachusetts Guard’s riot-training was superficial, Vartanian said, “for the last several years, the Department of the Army has required guardsmen to undergo 16 hours a year of civil disturbance training. Many of our men have been through that several times.

“Is that superficial? You decide. The men have also been through extra-stress training this summer, and several went to the Defense Department’s Racial Relations Institute in Florida.”

The men are confident. “I think he know what to do. We’ve been trained long enough,” one enlisted man said.

The battalion, a military police unit, includes many “citizen-soldiers” who are in law enforcement as civilians. It also includes lawyers, accountants, and a few unemployed.

The units come from Cape Cod, Buzzards Bay, Hyannis, Taunton, Plymouth and Lexington.

Capt. Frank Baran commands the 26th company, a Boston unit, called up during last year’s busing.

He said a few of his men here from the anti-busing hotbed South Boston and Charlestown sections. “We have made arrangements to see that these men won’t be sent to their home communities,” he said.

Baran called morale “extremely high.” He reported most of his men, on a floor closed to reporters, were resting. They only got about four hours sleep Sunday night.

“They’re ready,” he concluded.

—————-

Edited, less writerly version

204 bzm

Bh-guard 9-8

With Boston

Night lead

By Paul E. Schindler, Jr.

BOSTON (UPI)―They were ready, willing and able in their own estimation. But the 600 or so men and three women of the Massachusetts National guard in the Fargo building near downtown Boston were not needed Monday.

They didn’t know that when they got up at 4 a.m. to get ready to go in case they were needed to replace Boston police involved in a contract dispute.

But when the police came to work, instead of calling in sick, and Gov. Michael Dukakis cancelled a planned early morning visit, all the Guardsmen had to do has lean out their fifth-floor windows, looking at the surrounding industrial area, bordering on frequently unquiet South Boston.

Maj. Gen Vahan Vartanian talked as the troops returned from their Scrambled eggs, bacon, pineapple juice and cereal army-style breakfast. The adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard said the governor had ordered that there be “no lethal weapons whatsoever” in the building.

He bristled at charges the guard’s riot-training has superficial. “For the last several years, the Department of the Army has required Guardsmen to undergoes hours a year of civil disturbance training. Many Of our men have been through that several times.

“Is that superficial? You decide. The men have also been through extra-stress training this summer, and several went to the Defense Department’s Racial Relations Institute in Florida.”

One enlisted man said the men in his unit were confident. “I think he know what to do. We’ve been trained long enough,” he said.

Many of the “citizen-soldiers” in the battalion, a military police unit, have law enforcement jobs as civilians. Others are lawyers and accountants. A few of the Guardsmen are unemployed in private life.

Buzzard’s Bay, Hyannis, Taunton, Plymouth and Lexington supplied most of the Guardsmen.

The exception is the 26th company, a Boston unit commanded by Capt. Frank Baran. He said a few of his men here from the anti-busing hotbed South Boston and Charlestown sections.

“We have made arrangements to see that these men won’t be sent to their home communities,” according to Baran.

He said morale was “extremely high, and said of his unit, “They’re ready.”

UPI 09-08 9:33 PED

205 BZM

AT-NXL

Yep, please see 200BZM

Armad-KT