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
Results 1-5 of 25
... doors , I thought , " Three years , am I to spend three years here ? " The marshall spoke up , " Well , boys , this will be your home for some time to come . " The auto thief hand- cuffed on my left arm looked dour and said nothing . An ...
... door . A book was being shoved under the door , opened up to fit , and a grinning face appeared at my win- dow and was gone . Pearl Buck's The Exile ! It was a wonderful read , and Buck took me out of that prison to China . After three ...
... doors , we stopped at a town in the middle of our trip . The guards rode forward with guns while we were in a heavy wire cage with doors and win- dows without handles . Thus chained and locked in , we gazed out at some of the ...
... door was opened and he re- ceived mail , writing paper , and books . His feet were under treatment for burns and his condition was much improved . I was one of four who felt the administration had made a good step and could not release ...
... door between upper and lower floors of our cell blocks so that Bayard could join his friends for games in the recreation area . This was opposed by inmate Judge Huddleston , the considerably overweight former treasurer of Ken- tucky who ...
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 |