Shipshewana by Dorothy O. Pratt

Author:Dorothy O. Pratt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2004-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

Camps

Upon arrival, the men found themselves at camps run by the historic peace churches, though the civilian manager reported directly to the Selective Service. According to a 1942 army memorandum, the conscientious objector “cease[d] to be a free agent and [was] accountable for all of his time, in camp and out, 24 hours a day.” More emphatically, the memorandum stated, “he ceases to have certain rights and privileges.”43 In short, the conscientious objector’s position was little different from that of an ordinary draftee.44 Most frustrating for the leaders of the historic peace churches, who understood that they were to run the camps, the supervisors had to answer directly to the military and coordinate with military regulations. For instance, when factories and civilian personnel worked on Saturdays, so did those living in CPS camps. Camp supervisors had the authority to reject “unsuitable” applicants and reassign workers to a new camp if not enough volunteered. The starkness of that power provoked early disagreement with the peace churches; however, the camps soon settled down to a daily routine.

The Selective Service assigned men to camps, but placement did not necessarily reflect the conscientious objector’s denomination. Most Amish served in camps administered by Mennonites, although just before the end of the war the Amish purchased a farm to be operated as a CPS camp. Few of the men remained at the same camp for the duration of the war. Some volunteered to move from one camp to another; in other instances, the camp itself closed.45 The men were always given notice when a camp was going to close or when a new camp, or other site, was opening that needed volunteers.

Although not all camps ran smoothly, the Mennonite camps tended to run well, because they comprised primarily people who wanted to make the system work. Professor Gordon Charles Zahn, a Catholic conscientious objector, reported that the term “two-hundred percenters” was used derisively against those who threw themselves into their work at the camps with great enthusiasm. He specifically identified Mennonites as examples of those men.46 The oral reports confirm that Amish and Mennonites as a group committed themselves to hard work in a cheerful manner. Nearly everyone reported suffering from homesickness (especially those who left a wife and children behind), and all admitted that they would rather have remained at home. Yet without exception, their comments revealed a positive outlook. In the words of one veteran, “CPS was what you made of it.”47 Several men agreed with a statement by one conscientious objector that he realized early on that one “could feel like a martyr with no freedom and no pay,” but he made the camp into “an educational and an enjoyable thing.” He took it as “an adventure” that allowed him to travel from coast to coast and “never saw it as a waste of time.”48 Another man found his experience to be so instructive that he compared it to four years of college, but he admitted that it had taken time and reflection to realize the important contributions of CPS to his life.

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