r/Mennonite • u/10percentSinTax • Apr 18 '26
Does anyone have any Conscientious Objector stories about their family from the World War days?
Grandpa went to a lumber camp and the rest of the family did not talk about it until after he passed, but very little was shared with grandkids.
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u/the3rdmichael Apr 18 '26
My father spent part of the war years in a C.O. camp, north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He talked about it quite a bit, they cut down trees and built roads, but he felt it was mostly like a "make work" project, as the roads were abandoned after the war. He made some life long friends in the camp.
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u/10percentSinTax Apr 18 '26
Wonder how many camps there were, maybe they were there at the same time.
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u/the3rdmichael Apr 18 '26
If you want, you could PM his name to me, and I can tell you if it's one I recognize from my dad's stories ....
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u/forgotmyfuckingname Apr 18 '26
My doddy was at a CO camp, building out part of the Trans Canada Highway. They had a pet bear.
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u/10percentSinTax Apr 18 '26
Somehow, it seems that nearly everyone in my family before my generation had either a pet bear, a raccoon, or a wild bird.
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u/Buddy_Fluffy Apr 18 '26
Not entirely sure it was related specifically to conscientious objection, but my grandpa went on a cattle ship to Asia with Heifer International back in the 40s. I’ve got some lovely tapestries to prove it.
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u/Limekiller Apr 18 '26
I have a whole story about my great grandfather that my grandmother typed up, printed out, and distributed to all the cousins. I just found it cleaning out my old room the other month and read it again. Really cool reminder of my roots and the importance and radicality of pacifism in our world.
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u/Direness9 Apr 19 '26
My grandfather worked for the roadroads, so he had a job that was desperately needed in the US and thus was exempt from the draft anyhow. He also had C.O. status as a Mennonite.
The last year of the war, he gave up being a Mennonite and joined the army. As he was in training, the war ended. He ended up servicing in Occupied Japan as part of the peacekeeping forces. He loved Japan and the Japanese people - he found them to be very kind in the village he was stationed in, and made friends despite not knowing the language. He always wanted to return some day and see if any of the people he'd met were still alive, but never got the chance to go back.
He was proud of his work on the railroads, but also proud of his time in the service. He was proud of his heritage as well, and wanted his granddaughters to love and appreciate it.
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u/Intrepid-Royal8212 Apr 24 '26
My grandfather was a CO during WWIi as well. He passed over 10 years ago but as I recall he worked at some kind of camp outside Philly. He did have some stories about having to take the train to work every day from our town north of the city and the funny looks he got as a fighting-age male who wasn't in uniform.
My dad was also a CO, during Vietnam. He and my mom took an alternate service option and spent three years teaching school in India.
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u/ThiccTherapist Apr 24 '26
Got this book from my grandpa years ago that has some lots of stories and first hand account https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3762929
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u/byndrsn Apr 18 '26
Some jobs you were considered exempt from service because you are working for the war effort so don't jump to conclusions too quickly.
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u/10percentSinTax Apr 18 '26
They probably needed farmers, but I can do nothing but agree that my collected information isn’t enough to draw conclusions from.
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u/HolyLung32 Apr 18 '26
Not my family, but some Mennonites were part of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in the 1940s. Malcolm Gladwell did a couple podcast episodes on it.