A Few Small Candles: War Resisters of World War II Tell Their StoriesLarry Gara, Lenna Mae Gara Kent State University Press, 1999 - 207 pages Little is known about those who openly refused to enter military service in World War II because of their convictions against killing. While many of those men accepted alternative civilian service, more than 6,000 were incarcerated with sentences ranging from a few months to five years. Some were tried, convicted, and reimprisoned for essentially the same offense--resisting induction into the armed forces--after their initial release. In A Few Small Candles, ten men tell why they resisted, what happened to them, and how they feel about that experience today. Their stories detail the resisters' struggles against racial segregation in prison, as well as how they instigated work and hunger strikes to demonstrate against other prison injustices. Each of the ten has remained active in various causes relating to peace and social justice. This is a unique collection of memoirs that illuminated the American homefront during World War II and provides an important source for those interested in the American peace movement. |
From inside the book
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... asked to relate his reasons for opposing the war , what happened to him as a result of that opposition , and how he feels about the experience today . While this is by no means a comprehensive history of that chapter in our history ...
... asking about mail and why I was not being processed . It turned out that in some of the material I was carrying I had mentioned a hunger strike at the Federal Prison in Danbury , Connecticut , and they con- cluded I would be starting ...
... asking that he be released into the general population . While the administration did not discipline us , they did not ignore what we had done either , as a united action by any group is carefully followed by officials . No doubt our ...
... asked , " Is the world flat or round ? " It will perhaps as- tound some to learn that half of the class did not know . Truly , the experience of what early astronomers and explorers felt when they attempted to convince their fellow ...
... asked me to help you on date of arrival . I don't think so but April 6 my trial date to January 6 equals 9 months . Therefore the baby would arrive before January 6 , probably in December . All I can say is we have just gotten under the ...
Contents
1 | |
20 | |
My Resistance to World War II | 38 |
My War and My Peace | 53 |
My War on War | 78 |
War Resistance in World War II | 98 |
Reflections of a Religious War Objector Half a Century Later | 130 |
Prison and Butterfly Wings | 152 |
How the War Changed My Life | 174 |
My Story of World War II | 194 |
Selected Additional Readings | 205 |