PROPOSAL FOR PLACING
LT. COL. LEONARD P. LYNCH
UPON THE RSA WALL OF HISTORY

TO:  Charles Humphries and RSA Associates
     PH&J Architects, Inc.
     
DATE:  26 April, 1998


History does not just happen, it is made by people.  Often those
people are soldiers doing their duty for God and for country.  My 
father, Lt. Col Leonard P. Lynch, was such a soldier and he 
played a vital role in Montgomery's history, perhaps more vital 
than that of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Rosa Parks.

The 1965 Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March did not just 
happen because Martin Luther King, Jr. decided to march.  It did 
not just happen without bloodshed because that was the way Martin 
Luther King, Jr. wanted it.  The Selma to Montgomery march was 
enabled in large part by my father, Lt. Col. Leonard P. Lynch.  
Like Moses he and 4,000 troops separated the waters of hatred and 
opened the road to Montgomery that King and 25,000 marchers might 
pass without bloodshed.

The Civil Rights March to Montgomery was not done by simply 
praying and putting one foot in front of the other.  It was a 
military campaign orchestrated and conducted in large part by my 
father which involved 4,000 troops and their armed deployment and 
logistical support.  My father was the logistics transportation 
officer responsible for opening the road to Montgomery. He was in 
direct communication with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy 
under the Commander in Chief Lyndon B. Johnson, charged with the 
duty of enabling the establishment of a safe corridor between 
Selma and Montgomery and insuring that the march might proceed 
without incident or bloodshed.  Were it not for my father's 
behind the scenes role in opening and maintaining a safe corridor 
between Selma and Montgomery the now famous march would have 
never happened or would have surely turned into another blood 
bath.

Often those who serve their country in uniform go unnoticed and 
slip silently into the night, forgotten because they were merely 
there doing their duty, following orders.  But my father happened 
to be a man without racial prejudice who always believed in equal 
civil rights for all people.  Had not such a man as my father 
been at the right place at the right time, King would never have 
stepped into Montgomery without blood on his hands and history 
would have taken an altogether different course.

This is not a case of trying to claim undo credit.  It is simply 
a revelation of what really happened in 1965, some 33 years ago.  
When the National Guard was federalized it was given orders to 
clear a safe corridor from Selma to Montgomery to enable the 
march to proceed in an orderly and safe manner.  At the time my 
father was a National Guard Advisor living in Montgomery and 
stationed out of the National Guard Armory in Prattville.  For 
some years he had been involved in the overseeing of that post.  
When the National Guard was federalized, as a senior logistics 
transportation officer my father was largely responsible for 
opening and maintaining a safe corridor between Selma and 
Montgomery.  This involved the planning of operations, the 
movement and emplacement of 4,000 armed troops, supplies and 
support operations, and the maintenance of communications with 
the White House through Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Were it not for my father's many years of experience in the 
conduct of such operations during World War II, the 
reconstruction of Europe, the Korean War and the Cold War, the 
Selma to Montgomery march would likely have never happened 
without bloodshed.  It was enabled because my father was a highly 
trained and skilled soldier, who followed orders and did his duty 
to the best of his ability for God and for country.  If these are 
values that we want to pass to our children then they must know 
the truth, that the Selma to Montgomery march happened because 
force of arms under the command of highly trained military 
personnel enabled it to happen.  It was not just a mass of people 
walking down the highway unhampered, but a carefully orchestrated 
military operation which my father and 4,000 National Guard 
troops executed.

By telling the truth and displaying my father's image as a career 
soldier who had a vital role in the making of history upon the 
RSA Wall of History, people will know that if they serve their 
country they, too, may one day play a vital role in securing our 
freedom and maintaining our civil rights.  But if the myth 
persists that freedom and liberty may be secured or maintained 
without force of arms, then they may one day be lost.

It is true that Martin Luther King, Jr. was an advocate of 
nonviolence but the only reason he and 25,000 marchers were able 
to make it to Montgomery during March of 1965 without bloodshed 
is because 4,000 armed troops watched over them night and day 
like guardian angles.  The Selma to Montgomery march was enabled 
by force of arms and my father was the logistics transportation 
officer who was largely responsible for opening and maintaining a 
safe corridor for marchers to Montgomery.  True, the marchers 
were nonviolent, but they were hampered and opposed by hatred and 
prejudice every foot of the way.  It is doubtful they would have 
even made it over the Edmund Pettus bridge and down the road to 
Montgomery without bloodshed, had my father and 4,000 armed 
troops not enabled the march by force of arms.

An appropriate commemoration of this era in history would show my 
father as a career soldier with the inscription "Like Moses he 
and 4,000 armed troops parted the waters of hatred and opened the 
road to Montgomery that King and 25,000 marchers might pass 
without bloodshed."  Any other historical portrayal of the Selma 
to Montgomery march or that era in history which does not tell 
the whole truth and leads people to believe that rights may be 
asserted without force of arms is a lie which places our freedom 
in jeopardy.  I would hope you do the right thing and place a 
soldier on the Wall of History and nominate my father, Lt. Col 
Leonard P. Lynch, to be that soldier.

                                Respectfully,



                                Terrence A. Lynch

cc. Mary Ann Neeley, Executive Director of the Landmark's
    Foundation of Montgomery 

    Ed Bridges, Director of the Alabama Department of
    Archives and History