'Jail conditions encourage mental illness'
Mother dissatisfied with probe
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second and last part of an exclusive interview with Mrs. Leon Bunch, mother of Richard Bunch, the prisoner shot at the Presidio.)
By RICHARD LOUV Kansan Staff Writer
Copyright 1969, The University Daily Kansan
It was the beginning of a new year.
Mrs. Leon Bunch, mother of a dead son, sat at the dimly-lit kitchen table and wrote to the new President of a still-young nation, slowly becoming aware of it's own fallibility.
She wrote of a son shot in the back by a Presidio guard as he attempted to alk away from a work detail. She wrote of a son she knew had been mentally ill, and whose death had precipitated the Presidio sit-down strike. She asked President Nixon to investigate the actions of the military at the Presidio Stockade in San Francisco.
Last Saturday she sat in an empty auditorium in Leavenworth, following the Symposium on Military Justice, and told a Kansan reporter of the reaction she received from the letter.
Reply letter
"A few weeks later we got a letter back from a major general in Washington, who said the investigation had been turned over to the military," she said.
The letter reads: "The death of your son was carefully and impartially investigated by authorities at the Presidio," the killing was called justifiable.
"That's not the kind of investigation I had in mind, not by the men in charge of the Presidio," she said, and smiled, "I voted for Nixon."
During the interview, Mrs. Bunch remained calm and relatively unemotional. Names and sources she referred to were found to be accurate when checked with other newspaper
and magazine articles. Her fear of the prison conditions was reinforced by testimony and court petitions.
Testimony agrees
She referred to the testimony of several witnesses who said her son asked other prisoners how to commit suicide. They said Bunch asked the guard if he would be shot if he ran, and the guard told him, "You'd have
Mrs. Bunch
to run to find out." Bunch then answered, "Well, all right, but please aim at my head."
Another witness, Linden Blake, said in a sworn statement he turned to see the guard aim and fire, hitting Bunch in the small of the back. "There was no command of 'halt' given by the guard, and Bunch was 25 to 30 feet from the guard when he was shot. There was one shot fired. After shooting Bunch, the guard whirled, pointed his gun at me and yelled, 'Hit the ground or I'll shoot you, too.' Then he seemed to have flipped and said, 'I hit him right where I aimed—in the lower back.'"
When Mrs. Bunch was called to the stand in trial proceedings for the Presidio 27, the court said her testimony on her son's sanity would be irrelevant.
"He was in the Army for a year, and his mental condition seemed normal. When he came home he said his new commanding officer hated him, and then went AWOL. Conditions in the prison must have driven him even further," she said.
Private First Class Philip Cohen, a guard at the Presidio, testified he could remember 30 suicide attempts made by 21 prisoners.
Lawyer agrees
Mrs. Bunch said the lawyer for the first man of the Presidio 27 sentenced, said many of the men who try to commit suicide are thrown into solitary confinement in the 'black box.' One man, who had slashed his throat, chest, and wrists, tried to hang himself with his own bandages.
The federal court petition describes the 'box;' "None of said cells contains a commode and in order to relieve themselves, the prisoners must pound on the doors of their cells and shout until they are able to attract the guard's attention ... Prisoners are frequently forced to relieve themselves on the floor of their cells and their excrement or urine is allowed to remain on the floor for considerable periods of time. Prisoners . . . have been refused permission to brush their teeth, bathe, or change their clothes for periods up to a week. The heating in these cells is inadequate and to punish recalcitrant prisoners, guards take the prisoner's clothes and blankets from him and throw water on his naked body. At times urine had been substituted for water."
"I was one of those people who always had a lot of respect for the Army," Mrs. Bunch said, "and I still feel patriotic to my country, though many changes are needed. But I think a person is a person, not a number, and if the Army is going to take a person into their care, they're going to have to take care of them, not kill them."
She said her son was killed by an inhuman prison, with conditions that encourage mental illness. "It seems futile to try to change these conditions," she said.
Injustice
"I call the whote thing military injustice. They stated their position and expect it to be final. As if a civilian has no business questioning it," she said.
She paused for a moment.
"The Army doesn't deny the facts are coming out, because they know they're true. I wish . . . I wish that President Nixon had answered my letter, and I wish he had set up a civilian investigation. But I suppose he's very busy with the ABM system," she said, and then quietly added, "He doesn't have a son, so he doesn't know what it feels like. And I don't think they're going to kill David Eisenhower."
Pharmacy school honors ten students
Ten KU students have been honored by the School of Pharmacy at its annual awards banquet Friday, said Howard Mossberg, dean of the School of Pharmacy.
James S. Craig of Waterville, Ohio, was named outstanding senior and received the Gold Key Award of the American Pharmaceutical Association student branch. Craig was chosen by a student-faculty committee.
Other award winners are: Larry Wilkinson, McDonald senior, Lilly Achievement Award for superior scholastic and professional work and faculty award for excellence in pharmacology; Ivan Conover, Satanta senior, Bristol Award for highest scholastic average and Merck Award for highest scholastic average in prescription compounding.
Andy Norris, Lawrence senior, Merck Award for best laboratory work; Kaye Metzler, Arkansas City senior, Rexall Award for greatest scholastic improvement.
Reply says shooting justified
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is the letter sent to Mrs. Leon Bunch in answer to her questions about her son's death.)
27 February 1969
Mrs. Leon Bunch 4217 Ellery Avenue Dayton, Ohio 45439
Dear Mrs. Bunch:
President Nixon has asked that I reply to your recent letter regarding the death of your son, Pvt. Richard Bunch, and the current trials at the Presidio of San Francisco.
The death of your son was carefully and impartially investigated by authorities at the Presidio. The investigation determined that your son, then a prisoner, attempted to escape and that his guard ordered him to halt. When your son continued to flee, the guard fired one round from his shotgun. Based on all available evidence, it was determined that the guard who fired the shot acted justifiably in the performance of his duties.
The proceedings of the general court-martial trials of the individuals who have been charged with mutiny are being recorded verbatim. As each record is transcribed, it will be reviewed by several authorities. Initially, the Commanding General, Sixth United States Army, will act on the case,
Apr. 24 KANSAN 11
1969
taking into consideration a written review to be prepared by his Staff Judge Advocate, an experienced lawyer. Upon this review the sentence may be reduced.
If the Commanding General, Sixth United States Army, approves all or part of the findings of guilty and all or part of the sentence, the case must be reviewed by a Board of Review in my office. The Board, which is composed of senior lawyers, also has the authority to reduce sentences. If the conviction is affirmed, the accused may petition the United States Court of Military Appeals for additional review. This Court is composed of three civilian judges. An accused is entitled to be represented before the Board and the Court by legally qualified military counsel at no expense to him, or by civilian counsel retained at his own expense, or by both.
Since these cases will be undergoing judicial review, it would be improper for me to comment further on them. Please be assured that the rights of these soldiers are being guarded carefully to insure that they receive the justice to which they are entitled.
I hope this information will assist you in understanding the procedures being followed.
Sincerely yours, (sgd) Lawrence J. Fuller Major General, USA Acting Judge Advocate General
FANFARES T.M.
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