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For nearly 6 months now, this ammunition depot at Port Chicago has been under a kind of siege. A persistent band of pacifists have held a 24 hour a day vigil here since August 7th as their way of protesting the war in Vietnam. Usually there are only

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2 vigilors here at a time, except on weekends or on special days. This is one of those special days. They call it ladies' Day at Port Chicago. It was sponsored by Women for Peace of the East Bay. Mrs. Madeline Duckles is a spokesman for the group.

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Well, members of Women for Peace decided to come out to give support to these people who have been maintaining this vigil since August 7th, and they have been short of food. They've been short of money. They've had their house broken into and destroyed and their car

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for shelter destroyed so many times that we wanted to show them our support for what they're doing and the moral stand they're taking so we brought out food and. We brought our lunch and we thought we'd just make a day of it to give them support.

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Over the months there have been many arrests at Port Chicago as overzealous pacifists trespass on government property or stopped napalm-laden trucks entering the base. The vigilors say that demonstrating at Port Chicago is the ultimate test for a pacifist. Daily they are subjected, they say, to harassment

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by gangs of young toughs, even to physical violence. A community home they rented in nearby Clyde mysteriously burned down after the windows were broken out several times. Another house was raided, the occupants beaten up. They moved again. This time they won't say where. This car was

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brought in a week ago to shield the vigilors from the rain. Hoodlums wrecked it. Mrs. Jean Yacht, who cooks for the group, has been on the vigil about a month. Miss Yacht, how many are there in your group? On a permanent basis, I would say 14.

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Sometimes some of them are either in jail or on trial, but still they are part of our permanent group. We're here for good. What do you do for money and food? We have a mailing list, and many people from Berkeley, from San Francisco bring in food,

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all kinds of food. Ms. Yacht, what, what's it like on the line? I'll tell you, uh, almost 4 weeks ago when I first joined the group, the first night I was here, I was the cook, see, so they kept coming in starting at 2 o'clock, 5

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of them had been to the hospital, been badly beaten, sewn up, and things like that, and one had come from Chicago just to sit with us one night, and he was the first one to come in. His face was so badly he couldn't eat. I had

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to feed him, you know, soft boiled egg. What had happened to him? He'd been beaten. The group says this is their statement for peace. They say they'll remain as long as Port Chicago is a shipping point for the war. Government officials say they don't mind the

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vigil as long as it doesn't interfere with the operation of the base. Ben Williams reporting from Port Chicago.