The Silver Spring Three refers to a

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

era anti-draft action. On May 21, 1969, three young men walked into a

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...

office where they destroyed several hundred draft records to protest the war. Les Bayless (age 22), his brother John Bayless (age 17), and Michael Bransome (age 18) lived at a commune known as Blair House (7421 Blair Road) just down the street from the draft board. Files were mutilated with

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

and black paint, office equipment was destroyed, and the office was completely ransacked. The three waited for police and FBI agents to arrive and were arrested. The Silver Spring Three were inspired by actions such as the Baltimore Four and the

Catonsville Nine The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968, they took 378 draft files from the draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland and burned them in the parking lot. List of the N ...

. At the time of the raid Les Bayless was out on bail for draft resistance. His trial was presided over by Judge

Roszel Cathcart Thomsen Roszel Cathcart Thomsen (August 17, 1900 – March 11, 1992) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Education and career Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Thomsen received a Bachelor of A ...

(of the Catonsville Nine trial), who gave him a three-year sentence on top of his five-year sentence for

draft evasion Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...

. Michael Bransome was sentenced to three years in federal prison, spent eight months when prior to a furlough to his home in D.C. he received a death threat from two violent inmates and fled to Canada in 1970. He received political asylum in Sweden in 1971. Les Bayless was interviewed for the 2013 documentary Hit & Stay.

References

{{Reflist Silver Spring, Maryland American anti–Vietnam War activists