After looking over several reviews, I decided to reach out to Roberts via email to ascertain if he might have some comments to share concerning my undertaking.
I received this reply the same day:
Chaz,
"Very nice to hear from you. Your project sounds really interesting. You certainly landed in a unique place as a 16-year-old in the spring of 1971!
"I went back today to search both the Washington Daily News and the Washington Post digital news archives for that week and don't see any reference to that particular action. It certainly seems like the kind of thing that would have made it into the news, given that these were active duty guys in the middle of one of the most intense antiwar demonstrations of the times. Yet I don't find anything."
Perhaps someone took photos. The Post and Washington Star photo archives were collected years ago by the historical section of the DC Public Library downtown. They aren't digitized, so you'd have to travel there in person or send a surrogate to see if any unpublished photos or contact sheets of your group exist. It would be a long shot, for sure.
Were you downtown on the days of the arrests, or did the roundup happen after your visit?
Again, thanks for reaching out and best of luck with the project.
Larry _________________________________________________
David E. Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy