Scott Camil Scott Camil ( born May 19 , 1946 in Brooklyn , New York , United States ) is a noted political activist . He first gained prominence as an opponent of the Vietnam War , as a witness in the Winter Soldier Investigation and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War . Life . Camil ' s parents were divorced when he was four years old . His mother remarried and he , his mother , stepfather , sister moved to Florida where and two stepbrothers were born . Camil had a troubled childhood , frequently being beaten by his authoritarian stepfather , and occasionally getting into fights with school children who would harass him because he was Jewish . He was brought up to believe he lived in the best country in the world and that , as a citizen , he had a duty as a male - that duty was to go into the military to serve his country after high school . He enrolled in the Marines delayed enlistment program while still in high school , and entered boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island three days after graduating . He served with the Marines from 1965 to 1969 , earning two Purple Heart s , Combat Action Ribbon , two Presidential Unit Citations , Good Conduct Medal , National Defense Service Medal , Vietnam Service Medal with three stars , Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star , Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Leaf , and Vietnam Campaign Medal during two tours in Vietnam . With Charlie Company , 1st Battalion , 1st Marines , 1st Marine Division , he acted as a forward observer for artillery . He was a sergeant when honorably discharged . After his discharge from military service , Camil enrolled with Miami - Dade Community College on the G . I . Bill , and later transferred to the University of Florida . While studying philosophy at UF , he heard Jane Fonda speak about the deceptions of the United States government with regard to the Vietnam War . Fonda said , " In order for democracy to function the citizens have to have access to the truth . And the government is not telling the truth about Vietnam . So it ' s the duty of patriotic Vietnam Veterans to come forward and to share their experiences in Vietnam , so the public knows what ' s really going on . " This was when he learned about the Winter Soldier Investigation , an event that he would attend that would change his attitude about the war . He later became active in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War , and became a chapter leader of that organization . He graduated from UF while on trial as one of the " Gainesville Eight " . As of , he lives in Gainesville , Florida with his wife Sherry , is active in local politics , and is writing an autobiography . He is the subject of the 2002 documentary film , " Seasoned Veteran : Journey of a Winter Soldier " , by Benito Aragon , Melinda Kahl and Michael Kirschbaum . Vietnam war activism . Recognized by the FBI as an " extremist and key activist , " Camil was on President Nixon ' s " enemies list . " On December 22 , 1971 , FBI Director J . Edgar Hoover sent a classified memo to the Jacksonville office regarding Camil , referring to him as an " extremely dangerous and unstable individual whose activities must be neutralized at earliest possible time . " Other memos about Camil used the same word , " neutralize , " less ambiguously : " Jacksonville continue to press vigorously to insure ( sic ) that all necessary action taken to completely neutralize subject without delay . " Camil explained , " When you pin the government down , they ' ll say ' Well , " neutralize " just means to render useless . ' But if you talk to guys in the field , they say it means to kill . " Indeed , Camil was eventually shot by FBI and - or DEA agents in 1974 in a drug entrapment sting , and nearly died . Winter Soldier Investigation . Camil became the Florida Coordinator for the VVAW , and was one of the most outspoken participants of the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation , in which returning personnel recounted the atrocities they had been induced into committing against combatants and non - combatants alike . Camil ( transcripts also label him as " Camile " ) testified of Medals returned . At Senator Hart ' s garden party during Dewey Canyon III , Camil wore two Purple Heart medals , a Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry with Silver Star , and a Good Conduct medal . He called the medals a farce which he would return on Friday . Taking it to the source . In a 1992 interview , Camil revealed for the first time that he had considered shooting " the most hardcore hawks " in Congress as an alternative to returning medals during the Dewey Canyon III demonstration in April 1971 . In Camil ' s words , " I didn ' t think it was terrible at the time . . . I was serious . I felt that I spent two years killing women and children in their own fucking homes . These are the guys that fucking made the policy , and these were the guys that were responsible for it , and these were the guys that were voting to continue the fucking war when the public was against it . I felt that if we really believed in what we were doing , and if we were willing to put our lives on the line for the country over there , we should be willing to put our lives on the line for the country over here . " Six months later at a November 1971 meeting , after recruiting participants and describing his weapons training range , Camil proposed to the VVAW his idea about the assassination of the members of Congress who showed the most support for the war . The proposal was voted down . University of Florida activism . At the 1971 UF homecoming parade , Quakers , Unitarian Church members and VVAW members , including Camil , created a spectacle . Dressed as rifle - carrying soldiers , some of them carried a coffin draped in an American flag , and carried a sign that read " The Impossible Dream - No More War . " People panicked after smoke bombs were ignited and VVAW members pretended to stab civilians ( VVAW actors ) in the crowd who had packets of fake blood hidden beneath their clothing . They then passed out leaflets to the crowd informing them that if they lived in Vietnam , this could really be happening to them , their friends , their family , and their children . It was during this period that the Orange County ( FL ) Young Democrats chose Scott Camil as their " Person of the Year " causing a rift between the Young Democrats and the more conservative Orange County Democratic Committee . Gainesville Eight . Camil explained in an interview that the group received information that during the 1972 Republican National Convention , the government was going to shoot someone and blame it on the anti - war protesters . They were also going to raise the five drawbridges so that antiwar demonstrators would be trapped on Miami Beach and shot by police and soldiers . In response , Camil ' s group planned to draw those police and soldiers away by attacking federal buildings , police stations , and fire stations in the two adjacent counties to occupy the government forces , then reopen bridges to aid escape of the demonstrators . These plans were typed up and distributed among the rest of the group by a member who was also an FBI informant . The eight members of Camil ' s group were charged with conspiracy to disrupt the Republican National Convention . The jury got to read the letter containing all the plans on attacking the federal buildings , but they also got to read the constantly repeated admonition , " This will be done for defensive purposes only . " The jury determined that their goal was to protect the rights of the protesters , and they found the eight men not guilty . In Camil ' s words , " " We had no conspiracy to disrupt the convention . Our conspiracy , if you want to call it that , was to go down to the convention and exercise our Constitutional rights as citizens and to defend those rights against anybody who tried to take away those rights , whether it be the government or anyone else . And the jury sided with us . " " The jury acquitted all eight after a long trial in 1973 , taking only a few minutes to do so . Miscellany . Graham Nash wrote and recorded the song " Oh Camil ! ( The Winter Soldier ) " in tribute to Scott Camil after hearing his testimony in the documentary " Winter Soldier " . The song appears on Nash ' s 1973 album ' Wild Tales ' . The song is also on the DVD " Winter Soldier " Bud Schultz , Ruth Schultz ( 1989 ) . " It Did Happen Here : Recollections of Political Repression in America " University of California Press . ISBN 0 - 520 - 07197 - 2 , ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 07197 - 1