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. |
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... joining Butcher . However , on the appointed day , five of us removed our shoes and proclaimed , " We're crazy , take us to the Blue Room . " Our shoes had been removed just before the noon meal , and as we marched into the dining room ...
... joined together in spite of manmade laws . In my situation I feel as if the gates have swung open and part of me has gone home to you . In the days ahead I shall be with you every minute .... What satisfaction to know that in spite of ...
... joined most protests and later in life outfitted a stationwagon with an amplifier , camping equipment , and large signs with peace messages , traveling thou- sands of miles and showing up at major demonstrations . He spent a fair amount ...
... joined the Lewis- burg fast and [ has ] not been eating for two weeks and Dr. Hager- man , who all along has said he would never force feed anybody , is trying to work solutions to this CO . So all gave credit to Meredith for our new ...
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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 |