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Peace on their minds

Elizabeth Ungerleider of Vermont poses for a photo at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, where about 150 or so campers gathered for the 25th anniversary of the Great Peace March, a near-disastrous, often exhilarating nine-month anti-nuke trek from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. See full story

Elizabeth Ungerleider of Vermont poses for a photo at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, where about 150 or so campers gathered for the 25th anniversary of the Great Peace March, a near-disastrous, often exhilarating nine-month anti-nuke trek from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
See full story   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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At a Ventura beach, participants mark the 25th anniversary of the Great Peace March

A happy quartet

A mock four-way wedding was part of the 25-year anniversary celebration. At times, the reunion was something like a low-key Burning Man — a Glowing Man, perhaps.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

A family affair

Sixteen-month-old Zasha Erickson joined her parents at the reunion. There would be campfires, singalongs, yoga classes, slide shows, trips to town, and quiet moments when middle-age marchers with kids and mortgages would reflect on what spurred them to trudge on.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors from the East

Gordon Polatnik and his daughter Sophie, 6 came from New York for the reunion.
See full story   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

A time to reminisce

Part of the group gathered after dinner to read memoirs and writings about the Great Peace March, which set out from Los Angeles on March 1, 1986.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Food and thoughts

Peace march veterans prepare dinner at the Ventua gathering. For days, they swapped stories about the epic trek, which ended in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15, 1986.
See full story   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

There's the rub

Darius B’Alexander, right, gives Marek Parker a shoulder massage at the reunion. More than one camper wryly noted that one of the punk-clad young anarchists who bristled at authority along the march route now teaches second grade.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Two march veterans

Barbara Cone Milazzo and James Knight hug at the reunion. The 47-year-old Milazzo, who runs after-school programs in Mariposa, Calif., has never attended any of her high school reunions. But she seldom misses get–togethers for the peace marchers, and the 25th -- drawing a crowd from around the U.S. -- was a must.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Symbols of a time

An American flag and a “no more war” star form part of the tableau at the reunion. Some participants attended a memorial on Saturday, the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Warm memories

Reunion participants gather around a campfire to sing. Whether a group like this could pull off a cross-country march today -- even for the same cause -- was an open question. Some said the atmosphere during the Cold War was warmer. “We’d be seen as enemies of the state,” said march veteran Barbara Cone Milazzo.
See full story  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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