Denis Adelsberger, 65: Protested Vietnam War

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By Rick Badie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Denis Adelsberger would have served his country during the Vietnam war, but he didn't have faith in the politics behind it.

Denis Adelsberger was a coordinator for the Atlanta Workshop on Nonviolence. There, among other activities, he counseled conscientious objectors.

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In 1968, the Philadelphia native was drafted into the U.S. Army. He, like other draftees opposed to the war, refused to wear his uniform. Because of that, he was imprisoned six months and received an undesirable discharge.

He settled in Atlanta, where he became a highly vocal, highly public war protester. He counseled young men on how to oppose the war. He wrote social and political commentary for alternative publications. He organized anti-war vigils. He hosted a radio program called "Tirade."

"He got hooked in with the city's peace movement and stayed," said his brother, Bernard Adelsberger of Fairfax Station, Va. "My parents were middle-class patriots and they really didn't understand the opposition to the war, but through Denis -- and later in the 1970s when the Pentagon Papers came out -- they got to understand."

On Feb. 18, Denis Joseph Adelsberger of Atlanta died from complications of lung cancer at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home. He was 65. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club in Atlanta.

After his discharge, Mr. Adelsberger immersed himself in this city's anti-war scene. He eventually became a coordinator for the Atlanta Workshop on Nonviolence. There, among other activities, he counseled young military and civilian men who were conscientious objectors, said George Nikas of Atlanta.

"He took over the workshop because no one wanted to do it," he said, "and he ran it well for a number of years. Every noon on Friday, we'd be in Five Points handing out leaflets, holding peace vigils."

One noted event was the People's Fair: A Celebration of Life, held in Piedmont Park in 1972.

"We were tired of marching and demonstrating and all the negativity," Mr. Nikas said, "so we had a celebration of life. People had booze, there were bands and we showed movies. It was more of a positive thing."

Dorothy Buono-Pirzad of Atlanta knew Mr. Adelsberger nearly five decades. In recent years, she said numerous men had approached Mr. Adelsberger and thanked him for the advice he provided back in the day.

"When you see a person who is willing to go to war and serve his country, but stands against military action, it has more impact," she said. "It wasn't that he didn't want to go fight. It was about the politics of the war. He chose to stand by his convictions and suffer the consequences."

For decades, Mr. Adelsberger worked in the trade show industry in capacities that included a forklift operator and union steward. He retired in 2007.

"He lived by his code and his convictions," his brother said. "And he never backed down."

Additional survivors include a sister, Lorette Lefebvre of Willow Grove, Pa.; and another brother, Joseph Adelsberger of Eugene, Ore.