06/05/2026
Today is June 5th, and in it is the anniversary of the riot and subsequent mass protests at Fort Dix outside of Trenton during the height of the Vietnam War in 1969.
In Fort Dix, 747 soldiers were held in a stockade, or military prison, and the vast majority of them were accused of going AWOL. Soldiers were overcrowded, starved, physically hurt, and forced to give confessions, true or not. Soldiers spoke of the cruelty and racism of their prison guards. On the day of the riot, prisoners were forced to stand in the sun for hours; and when it was over, they were returned back to their cells without water for the rest of the day. The tension reached a breaking point and over 250 soldiers began to riot. Later, they would call it a rebellion.
38 soldiers at Fort Dix were specifically blamed for the day's events and were placed in solitary confinement for months, in cells that were only 8 by 6 by 4 feet. They did not receive trials and many of them were starved, losing up to 60 pounds by the time of their release.
News of the rebellion and subsequent confinement of the 38 reached the general public, becoming a cause for the anti-war movement. Between 4,000 and 10,000 individuals marched on Fort Dix demanding the release of the "Fort Dix 38." This included such disparate groups as The Black Panther Party, the Catholic Peace Fellowship, the Medical Committee for Human Rights, and even a battalion of Quakers from Philadelphia. Fort Dix staff responded to the march by using tear gas and threatening them with bayonets.
The military had little evidence to convict most of the 38; only five soldiers faced a formal general court martial. These five had all made political statements against the Vietnam War. Two were acquitted; the other three were sentenced to hard labor for a number of years.
Do you remember the Fort Dix 38?
Image 1: David Fenton
Image 2: Shakedown, Oct. 17 1969 Issue
