Gaster: Veteran kept the peace as military policeman

In Newark, N. J., in 1967, a cab driver named John Smith was stopped, interrogated, arrested and transported to the 4th precinct headquarters, during which time he was severely beaten by the arresting officers. As news of the arrest spread, a crowd assembled in front of the precinct house. Civil rights leaders begged the crowd to stay calm, but a volley of bricks and bottles was launched at the precinct house. Police stormed out to confront the assembly. As the crowd dispersed they began to break into stores on the nearby commercial thoroughfares.

Eventually violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods of Newark's Central Ward to downtown Newark, and the New Jersey State Police were mobilized. Within 48 hours, National Guard troops entered the city. With the arrival of these troops the level of violence intensified.

At the conclusion of six days of rioting 23 people lay dead (some sources put that number at 26), 725 people were injured and close to 1,500 people had been arrested. Mike Gaster, of Nevada, Mo., was in Newark at that time, as a military policeman.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965, was sent to basic training at El Paso, Texas. After basic training, he was sent to Fort Gordon near Augusta, Ga., and trained in military policing. These officers did both garrison patrol and town patrol, where they were helping get soldiers from place they weren't supposed to be. He was assigned to 354th Military Police based out of southeast Minnesota. They trained National Guard soldiers on riot control.

Gaster's next stop was Sparta, Wis., where there was a federal detention center operated by his company. An Army base was nearby and when these soldiers -- 18-to-25-year-old men -- got in trouble, they were sent to this detention center. The plan was to get them to change their ways instead of sending them to a prison. Gaster was a platoon sergeant with 32 troops under his command. His job was to see that they did the jobs they were assigned.

Then the riot in Newark broke out. Gaster, a young man reared in Iowa and southeast Minnesota, not having been exposed to racial unrest nor any violence, was sent to New Jersey to help restore order.

"There are no winners when it comes to riots, or when people are killed because of the color of their skins. When people get cornered and scared, bad things will happen. The violence was awful." Gaster's eyes teared as he remembered.

A riot broke out in Detroit, Mich., others in Milwaukee, Wis., Balti-more, Md., Birmingham, Ala., Orangebury, S. C., and Chicago, Ill. Gaster was sent to them all.

"It was really sad. (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) always wanted kids and older adults to march with the adults. So here we had the U. S. military shooting at kids. At one point, I saw a white man in uniform beating up an old black woman. It made me sick. This was not in a foreign land. This was U.S. citizens on U. S. soil shooting at their own military, and their military shooting back at them. I believe what saved a lot of lives was when the press arrived. Also, we were able to get a fire truck. Before, when the crowd attempted to walk over us, which we couldn't let them do, we had to shoot. We could blast them with water after that," Gaster said.

"It only takes one to stir up a crowd. The police get overwhelmed. They can only take so many bottles and stuff thrown at them before they start shooting. I thought about being a policeman when I got home, but I couldn't stand the violence. I was so sick of the hate in people's eyes. It's a no-win situation."

When Gaster wasn't on riot control, he worked with AWOL Apprehension, traveling all over the country catching those who left the Army and taking them to jail.

"Mainly, I had to take them to a Chicago jail. That was a bad place. I've seen people go in with lots of hair and come out bald."

Gaster said he was thankful that God got him through that period of his life even though he didn't have a clue about who Jesus Christ was.

"I'd never been to church. No one ever told me about God or showed me the plan of salvation. I became a truck driver after service and drove until 1998. One time, I was down about everything and met a man who owned a truck stop in Oklahoma. I noticed the way he could calm a big burly truck driver with only a gentle touch or a soft word. I knew he was on to something. He showed me the way to be saved. My life was different after that.

"People need the Lord. It's no different now than it was in the '60s. Nothing has changed in the inner cities except that drugs are cheaper. Most have nothing to look forward to. The only way things will ever be better is if we win them to the Lord, one person at a time."

Now, Gaster is fighting that battle on the homefront by going into the jails and talking to the prisoners with the local Gideons. He also works with Legal Shield, helping others with legal services.

"When a person is in trouble and there's no place else to run, they're ready to listen to God's word. We've had several accept the Lord and get their lives straightened out -- some have been off of alcohol and drugs for as long as 18 years. That's what I find fulfilling."

Also, along with other organizations, Gaster has been taking Bibles and food and clothing items to homeless shelters in Kansas City.