On a damp dreary Friday the 13th September morning a battered funeral hearse was driven to the gates of Fort Wayne Induction Center.
The hearse was stopped at the M.P. Station just inside the gates and the driver was told to leave the base. The driver turned the car around and stopped in the driveway. Six pallbearers got out of the hearse, opened the tailgate and took out a casket, designed with the Resistance Omega and other peace symbols.
The pallbearers were in black mourning clothes and “whiteface” and one was dressed in a black cossack. The pallbearers took the casket to the gates and showed the pre-induction physical orders for Berny McCoy to the M.P.s indicating that he wished to report for his physical. The M.P.’s said, “not like that he won’t” and ordered them from the area.
The pallbearers turned around, took the casket outside the gates and set it down. The top of the casket opened slowly amid the moans and cries of the many “mourners,” also in “whiteface. Berny, as if arising from the dead, also dressed in a cossack and whiteface, got out of the casket.
Berny and supporters passed out leaflets to men reporting for induction, explaining to those interested why they were there. He later went into the center taking some leaflets with him.
Inside, McCoy distributed leaflets without any hassle from the post brass. Many of the inductees were sympathetic to his ideas and he gave draft counseling advice to some of the men.
He was eventually classified as 1-Y, deferred, and sent home.
