Airman Who Set Self On Fire Grew Up On Religious Compound Had Anarchist Past Self-Proclaimed Pacifist Man Sets Himself Afire Before Horrified Workers At Pentagon
   
Emily Davies, Peter Hermann And Dan Lamothe for The Washington Post News Wire Article published in the Oil City Derrick
February 26, 2024 November 3, 1965
    Less than two weeks before Aaron Bushnell walked toward the gates of the Israeli Embassy on Sunday he and a friend talked by phone about their shared identities as anarchists and what kinds of risks and sacrifices were needed to be effective. Bushnell 25 mentioned nothing violent or self-sacrificial the friend said. Then on Sunday Bushnell texted that friend who described the exchange on the condition of anonymity to protect his safety. “I hope you’ll understand. I love you” Bushnell wrote. …

Read the full article here.		     WASHINGTON (AP)—A self-proclaimed pacifist his baby in his arms turned himself into a human torch outside the Pentagon Tuesday as a horrified crowd of homegoing workers watched. He died shortly afterward. The onlookers shouted for the man to drop the 18-month-old baby girl Emily one of his three children and he did so. She escaped injury. The man was identified as Norman R. Morrison 31 of Baltimore Md. a Quaker. This sect formally called the Society of Friends disapproves of war or violence of any form and has urged nonviolence between nations. Several notes were found in Morrison’s pockets but a spokesman for Pentagon security police said he did not know if there was a suicide note. One paper seems to be notes taken at an Oct. 12 meeting of the ‘Friends Joint Peace Committee’ at Goucher College Center in Baltimore. They included the phrase “ordeal of peace in two worlds” and reference to the ratio of civilians killed in Viet Nam. Morrison and the baby were rushed to the Ft. Myer hospital not far from the Pentagon. He was declared dead on arrival. Several hours later Morrison’s wife Ann arrived from Baltimore. A hospital spokesman said Mrs. Morrison declined to talk with reporters and would return to Baltimore with the child. The General Service Administration and the U.S. district attorney’s office were investigating the reasons for the spectacular suicide.