A Soldier’s Conscience: New Memoir Sheds Light on a Hidden Chapter of Vietnam War History

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER by Frederick H. Chard

SEATTLE, WA, UNITED STATES, July 25, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In a bold and deeply personal memoir, I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER, Frederick H. Chard breaks decades of silence to reveal a buried truth about the Vietnam War — one lived not on the front lines, but in the shadows of military intelligence.

This newly released book recounts Chard’s service in the United States Army Security Agency (ASA), a secretive intelligence branch tasked with intercepting enemy communications during the height of the war. From 1966 to 1968 — one of the most turbulent times in American memory, when the world seemed to teeter on the edge of chaos — Chard operated with top-secret clearance, privy to battle plans and classified information unknown to the American public. But as the war intensified and the cost in human lives became staggering, Chard found himself at a moral crossroads.

In February 1968, still in uniform and on active duty, Chard stood in front of television cameras in San Francisco and publicly protested the war as a conscientious objector — the first ASA soldier to do so. His principled resistance, broadcast by major networks, stunned the nation and brought a rare voice from inside the intelligence community to the antiwar movement. Yet Chard’s protest stopped short of whistleblowing: he refused to share classified secrets, upholding his oath while demanding peace.

“I didn’t want to betray my country,” Chard writes. “I wanted to save it from betraying itself.”

Decades before Edward Snowden would ignite controversy with NSA leaks, Chard faced a similar choice. He, too, held top-level intelligence clearance. But rather than exposing secrets that could jeopardize lives, Chard chose the lonelier path: public, nonviolent resistance.

His memoir explores this moral struggle with honesty and nuance, offering a rare glimpse into the burdens of secrecy, the complexities of patriotism, and the human cost of war. It is a powerful account of one man’s refusal to remain silent — and a reminder that acts of conscience often come not with applause, but with risk and sacrifice.

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER is more than a personal memoir. It is a call to examine the hidden machinery behind war, and the courage it takes to speak out from within it.


I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER is available at Barnes & Noble and other popular retail outlets where books are sold.


AUTHOR BIO

Frederick H. Chard was discharged from the US Army on April 20, 1968, four days before his 21st birthday. He received a BA degree in History and Science from the University of San Francisco, California, in 1972, and worked for the University of California Medical School in San Francisco, California as a library research assistant, and the assistant to the dean of graduate admissions, from 1969 through 1974.

Frederick graduated from the Western States Chiropractic College in 1977 with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He has been licensed as a DC in Hawaii since 1978, and Washington since 1995. He was the co-author of the textbook ACUTONICS, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE OHM, first published in 2001. It has gone through many printings and is still currently available on Amazon

Frederick has been happily married since 1973 to Virginia Chard, who went to Vietnam many times in the early 1970’s as a flight attendant with World Airways. His son Mike Chard was born in 1978. He is a graphic artist and produced the wonderful cover for this book.

Frederick has also worked as animal chiropractor, treating small and large animals since 1979. He currently provides these services through a Seattle veterinarian.

Frederick H. Chard
Frederick H. Chard, Author
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