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And it’s one, two, three,

What are we fighting for?

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Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,

Next stop is Vietnam …

— I Feel Like I’m Fixing to Die Rag by Country Joe & the Fish, 1967

To Michael Hendricks, Montreal seemed “like the other end of the world” in 1968.

“I knew nothing about Canada,” said Hendricks, 75, a New Jersey native who was among the estimated 25,000 young American men who moved to Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s to avoid serving in Vietnam.

An equal number of young women came north during the same period, many accompanying husbands or boyfriends.

Hendricks, a computer programmer in New York City, had become firmly opposed to the war after seeing news reports on American atrocities on TV.

“I couldn’t see myself pointing a gun at an elderly lady. I’m just not like that,” he said.

Visiting Montreal in the summer of 1968, he was directed to a head shop on Bleury St. called the Purple Unknown for tips on moving to Canada.