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George Winne Jr. (April 2, 1947 – May 11, 1970) was an American student who, in protest of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, set himself on fire in an act of self-immolation at Revelle Plaza on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. The incident took place less than a month after the American invasion of Cambodia and one week after the Kent State Massacre.[1] Winne's act was inspired by the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức in 1963 in response to the persecution of Buddhists by the regime of minority Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem.[citation needed]
George Winne Jr. | |
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| Born | April 2, 1947[1] Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | May 11, 1970 (aged 23) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Burns from self-immolation |
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The son of a Navy Captain, George Winne Jr. was raised in San Diego. He was rejected from the US Naval Academy due to poor eyesight, but was an ROTC candidate at Colorado School of Mines before transferring to UCSD. He was a history major at Muir College. In December 1969, he became very withdrawn.[2]
Slightly after 4pm on Sunday, May 10, George Winne lit gasoline soaked rags on his body in Revelle Plaza on the UCSD campus and began running, carrying a sign reading "In God's name, End this war." Graduate student Keith Stowe knocked him down and then attempted to smother the flames: "but it didn't help."[2] Winne suffered third and fourth degree burns over 95 percent of his body, and he died at Scripps Hospital at 2am on the 11th of May, 1970.
At noon on May 11, a memorial service was held in Revelle Plaza. Speakers included history professor and chair of the faculty senate Gabriel Jackson and philosophy professor Herbert Marcuse.[3][4]
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For decades, faculty and students held vigils in remembrance of Winne in Revelle Plaza.[1]
In 1976, sculptor Virginia Maksymowicz installed a project called "Thirty Blocks" in what has become known according to campus folklore as the "George Winne Memorial Grove" to the east of Geisel Library and north of Price Center. While the clay was damp, the sculptor lay down on the bricks leaving an impression of her body and objects from her purse, which were then fired in a kiln to leave an "archaeological record" of her.[5] There is also a small plaque was also installed[when?] in this grove, which reads:
IN HONOR OF GEORGE WINNE JR.
WHO IMMOLATED HIMSELF IN
REVELLE PLAZA IN PROTEST OF
THE VIETNAM WAR IN 1970.
HE HELD A SIGN THAT READ
'IN THE NAME OF GOD,
END THE WAR'
In 2013, a group of students studying the history of progressive activism at UC San Diego, proposed a "memory site" near the location of Winne's act.[citation needed] In the winter of 2014, a "May 1970 Peace Memorial", was installed in Revelle Plaza.[1][6]
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