Phoenix Cabby Is Driving Force Behind Idea : Memorial to War Protesters Protested

Come April 30, if Terry Choate has his way, the red and yellow flag of Vietnam will be hoisted beside the stars and stripes on an acre of desert wedged between a highway and a state prison on the west side of town.

Sometime later, he hopes, a giant peace symbol will be lifted atop a tall column etched with names of people who died in anti-war demonstrations.

Then, with the addition of lights, parking and restrooms, the Vietnam War Protesters Memorial will be complete.

To no one’s surprise, veterans’ groups are outraged. One spokesman has suggested that Choate build his monument in Hanoi.

‘Captain Arizona’

But Choate, a pudgy, balding, bespectacled 37-year-old cab driver who has also driven a garbage truck, worked as a radio talk show host named “Captain Arizona” and run unsuccessfully for the Legislature, in 1982, persists.

He vows he will spend his savings and liquidate other assets to achieve his goal.

“In April last year, on the 10th anniversary (of the end of the Vietnam War), it seemed like the war protesters were left out. This seemed like the right thing to do,” said Choate, a protester who registered with Selective Service but was never drafted. “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial basically has 50,000 names to a defeat. Ours is a memorial to a victory.”

At present, Choate has only six definite names on his list: the four students killed at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, and the two young blacks killed at Jackson State University 11 days later when police and Mississippi troopers sought to quell rioting sparked in part by President Richard M. Nixon’s decision to send troops into Cambodia.

Choate runs the 85 Cents A Mile Cab Co., a three-car operation offering the cheapest and likely the most politicized taxi service in Phoenix. A sign on the back of his battered black cab reads in part: “Visit Vietnam War Protesters Memorial--Victory Peace Park--Interstate 10 at Perryville Exit.” He says it sometimes draws obscene gestures from motorists.

Fonda Tribute Fizzles

Last August, Choate paid $7,000 for his single scrubby acre. He announced plans for a “Jane Fonda Hero-of-the-Nation Park,” applied for the proper county permits and waited for donations to pour in.

They barely dribbled in. He received only $100, and Fonda demanded that her name be removed from the project.

But the opposition has only made him more determined.

Choate says he paid $1,000 for the architect’s blueprints he spreads over his cluttered desk. The monument--a 26-foot concrete column crowned by a 4-foot-high peace symbol--will cost $10,000. Throw in the toilets, lights, parking lots, surveys and the requirement that he set up a private, endowed foundation to qualify for a park permit and the cost grows to $50,000, Choate says.

He plans to pay for it by withdrawing his $10,000 in savings and selling property his grandparents gave him in 1965, including some acreage north of Phoenix and the house next door to his own, which features antique appliances and a black velvet Day-Glo painting on one wall.

He believes the monument has taken on greater significance with the recent congressional debate over U.S. aid to contra rebels in Nicaragua.

‘Symbol of Defeat’

“This (the proposed monument) is a symbol of the defeat of intervention,” Choate said. “They’re trying to intervene again in Central America. This does more than question authority. It says: ‘Authority: You threw 50,000 lives away for nothing and these are the people who died trying to stop you.’ ”

Veterans’ groups at first ignored Choate, believing he would never raise the money and any response would only give him more attention. Now, they fear, he may be just crazy enough to pull it off.

“I suggest that Choate build his monument in Hanoi,” said Gil La Montagne, the state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “I find it reprehensible that anyone would even consider the building of a monument to the Vietnam protesters and specifically flying an enemy flag. . . . The protesters may be heroes to some, but to American Vietnam veterans, they were nothing but sources of pain, despair and death.”

After the Maricopa County attorney’s office ruled that Choate’s plans met the definition of a park and issued a permit, the American Legion began circulating petitions against Choate.

Legislation Killed

Legislators introduced a bill making it illegal to display the Vietnamese flag, but it was declared unconstitutional and killed in committee.

Some veterans have predicted that if the monument does go up, it will not stay up long.

Choate keeps a grocery bag of hate mail by his desk. One, an unsigned mimeographed newsletter, says: “We anticipate a real firefight in Phoenix on the eve of May Day, if you know what we mean.”

But Choate relishes the fray. He responds to threatening letters with an outlandish letter of his own, asserting that “unlike the memorial for war criminals in Washington, this memorial will honor the true American patriots who died fighting the fascistic imperialist warmongers of the right wing.”

He has ordered a large quantity of flags to replace any torn down and plans to enclose his park with fences to discourage vandals.