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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... felt lonely , cut off , and de- pressed . I had a vast number of friends and helpers , and also ene- mies . My fellow convicts . They knew when I arrived , how long my sentence was , what I was in for . But the inevitable grapevine now ...
... felt that it was sincerely held . Charles Butcher then proposed to the COs that if Stanley were crazy , then Butcher ... felt the administration had made a good step and could not release Stanley without " losing face . " So we put our ...
... felt when they attempted to convince their fellow citizens that the world was round became mine . " Smith , what holds the world up ? " " Well , Clark , I guess it floats on water . " " All right , what holds the water up ? " " Hmmmm ...
... felt very stupid for not knowing , but she had been quite irregular in menstruating . She was by no means stupid . Here is my reply to this news : My Dearest Wife , Your beautiful and moving letter has brought me a happiness that space ...
... felt , due to my personal contacts with many Friends , my new association with the American Friends Service Committee , and my shared feeling of affinity with Quakers , that I would apply for membership at Germantown Friends Meeting ...
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 |