Bo Gritz
Colonel James "Bo" Gritz, born 1939, is a former Special Forces Vietnam Veteran, and has been involved in a number of incidents, including being sponsored by ISA in private rescue mission of Vietnam POWs, and served as a liason between Randy Weaver and the government in the Ruby Ridge standoff, as well as being involved with a search for multiple mail bomber Eric Rudolph.
He has ties and connections to a number of right wing militia and survivalist groups, and in recent years has become an adherent to Christian Identity. [1] He has been a member of Dan Gayman's Identity based Church of Israel, and is now a member of both the Rose Hill Covenant Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Inter-Continental Church of God in California. [2][3]
In 1998 he tried to commit suicide after his wife left him, but didn't succeed. [4] He has later remarried.
Organizations
In 1988, he was the vice presidential candidate of The Populist Party, with David Duke as the Presidential cadidate, but stepped down after sharing the ticket for with Duke for a few days. He has later said that this candidacy was a mistake, and he didn't know Duke beforehand. In 1992, he ran as the Presidential candidate of the party.
He organized Center for Action in 1989, with the purpose of bringing accountability and responsibility to government. [5] In 2000 the organization was renamed the Center for Action – Fellowship of Eternal Warriors, and has been described as escribed as "the most thorough merger to date of Gritz’s paramilitary training, opposition to the federal government and religious ardor." [6]
Gritz started a series of training sessions, Spike (Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Events), in 1993. These have been popular among the militia movement.[7] In 1994 he established the community Almost Heaven in Idaho, for Christian Patriots. In recent years, the number of people living in the community appears to be in decline. [8]
Book
- James Gritz. Called to Serve, Lazarus Pub Co, 2nd edition October 1991. ISBN 0962223808
Contact details
- Website: http://www.bogritz.com/
Resources
- David Neiwert, In God's Country: The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest, Washinton State University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0-87422-175-7
External links
- "Bo Gritz", Patiot America, accessed October 2006.
- Anti-Defemataion League, "James 'Bo' Gritz", accessed October 2006.
- David Neiwert, "What kind of life do I have without my bride?", Salon, September 28, 1998.
- Rebecca Boone, "Almost Heaven almost gone? "Patriot" haven now silent a decade later", Caspar Star Tribune, August 27, 2004. (This is an Associated Press story).
