What allows and leads an individual to become a CO is dependent upon a number of factors that are particular to that individual’s life, and many of these factors are time dependent. I believe it is important that I make this statement because, if there ever is a future draft for the military in this country, the amount of time that an individual will have to “make up their mind” will be limited, maybe more limited than it has ever been since WW1 or WW11.
In my particular case, there are at least six factors that allowed me to develop my ideas and beliefs to become a CO. They are as follows: 1. My early childhood religious exposure to the messages of Jesus, including nonviolent resistance to oppression; 2.Meeting people or having incidents occur in my life that made a difference in my spiritual development and decision making such as reading the book “All Quiet on the Western Front”, meeting my wife Wicky, learning of Quakers and their Peace Testimony and eventually becoming a Quaker, and exposure to wounded soldiers of the Vietnam War; 3. Luck, or the privilege of student deferment, and the fact that, by the time I appeared before my draft board, the road to becoming a CO had been paved for me by many others who had objected to participating in the Vietnam War years before my appearance; 4. Heritage or genetics – my father’s father emigrated from Germany in the early 1890s for several reasons, one of which was his belief that the German government had no right to conscript men into the military. According to my father, my grandfather was a lifelong pacifist. I only learned of this fact in 1991; 5. Being well-prepared when appearing before my draft board; 6. Having a long period of time for all of the above to occur. All of the above occurred from my early teenage years through age 28.
I was raised in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church and grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago. Although my parents rarely went to church, they always sent their children weekly. I loved listening to the sermons of our minister, and particularly to his sermons from the Gospels, that I would often reread. I was taken in by Jesus’ message of love, compassion, forgiveness, and nonviolence. I began to wonder, if this was Jesus’ message for us, then why don’t we really try to change our lives and live this way. I began to have disagreements with my church’s teachings, and I was eventually turned off by our church’s insistence on repenting for your sins.
Somewhere in my junior year in high school, I read “All Quiet on the Western Front.” I have a copy of this movie if a group wishes to view it sometime. At that time in my life, I loved to read biographies, historical novels, and history. The impact of that book upon me was overwhelming. I thought that, if this is what war is truly all about, in other words, its horrible dehumanizing effects, then why would anyone agree to participate in it. I began to realize for the first time, in only a very small way, that the glorification of war and patriotism is what made people so willing to go to war. I would like to read to you a short passage from the beginning of the book where Paul Baumer explains how his schoolmaster inculcated his students with the belief that they should join the military and fight for their country.
I was ecstatic to discover that there actually existed a religious group that was opposed to war under all circumstances
On my first day of high school, I met a person by the name of Wicky Willmore. We had lockers next to one another and I sat behind her in algebra. We began to date in our junior year, and later married in college in 1963 at the Friends Meeting in Princeton, N.J., but that’s another story. I had never met another person like her before. Through her mother’s teachings and life experiences, Wicky developed this passionate belief in standing up personally for any person who faced discrimination of any type, and she befriended these individuals as well. She opened my eyes to what it meant to make a personal commitment to bring about change for social justice in many ways.
We entered college in 1960. Through the encouragement of college classmates, Wicky first attended a Quaker Meeting in Abbington in 1961. She introduced me to the Princeton Meeting in 1962. At first, I thought the Quakers were a bit odd. I was not use to their silent worship, their meeting in a small, historic building, the tweedy dress of some of the members, and the unprogrammed nature of their worship. But eventually I became use to the unexpected and meaningful messages that came from many members of the meeting, with many of the messages focusing on peace and love. I was given a copy of “Faith and Practice”, which is a statement of Quaker practices and testimonies. When I read the section on “Living in the World”, I discovered their testimonies of Peace, simplicity, integrity, equality, and stewardship of the environment. I was ecstatic to discover that there actually existed a religious group that was opposed to war under all circumstances, and that this was their testimony to the entire world for 300 years.
We returned to Chicago in 1964. We attended Quaker Meetings in Downers Grove, and eventually became regular attenders at the 57th Street Meeting close to the University of Chicago. By that time we had moved to the mid-north side of Chicago close to Broadway and Belmont. Wicky had become a member of the Princeton Meeting in 1963, and I decided to become a member of the same Meeting in 1965. Shortly thereafter, I concluded that I was a conscientious objector to war. After a period of increasing understanding, I accepted the Quaker belief that “there is that of God in every person”, and therefore, if I were to kill another person, I would be killing the image of God. I notified my draft board that, if I was ever drafted, I wished to be considered a CO. I wrote them a letter telling them how I had arrived at my decision. Twice my draft board tried to reclassify me as 1A and each time I told them I was a student and wished to be considered a CO.
During this period of time from 1964 through 1969, while I was in school, Wicky not only worked as a secretary at Cook County Hospital, but she was also appointed as the youth representative to the Board of the AFSC in Chicago. Because of her position on the Board of the AFSC, she was well aware of civil rights and peace activities that were occurring in Chicago at that time. I was in school studying.
Dr. King brought the Black Freedom Movement to Chicago in 1965-66. The AFSC had bought a house in the East Garfield Park community and called it Project House. Many social justice activities for the community occurred out of this house. Wicky and I became involved in one activity called PREP (Pre-Adolescent Enrichment Program). On many Saturdays throughout the year, Wicky and I took young children from various parts of the city to different activities throughout the city, in their neighborhoods, and to our apartment. We stayed involved with the same group of children and their families for the five years. The intent of the program was to break down the barriers of isolation (and hopefully prejudice) of groups of people throughout the city through activities with their children and by getting to know the parents of the children. It was also a way for children to learn about their city, for many of the children had never been out of their neighborhood. We have maintained contact with two of the children and their families ever since then.
In the summer of 1967 while I was in medical school, I was a participant in the Student Health Project in Chicago. I became even more involved with the East Garfield Park community during this period of time, and Wicky and I became the adult sponsors for a teenage youth group in the community since they needed adult sponsors to carry on activities they wanted for themselves and no one had come forward from their community.
In the summer of 1969, I had two continuous medical student rotations in surgery at the Westside VA hospital. Through her work, Wicky learned of the experiences of returning Vietnam soldiers as they used the VA system. I came into contact with some of them. One was a 19 year old soldier who had been shot through the knee and had been sent to the Westside VA hospital because his wound would not heal. As a student, I was involved in his bedside care. The wound did not look good, was painful and had a foul odor, but it was felt that his leg could be saved. One day, he was crying and pleaded with me to take his leg off for his teenage wife would not come near him or visit him because of the terrible smell of the wound. That night I went home, and with tears in my eyes, told Wicky of his story.
At that moment, I decided that I could no longer be part of the military if drafted as a doctor. I was being trained to save and heal lives. Once I was in the military, I would be sending young men back to war; not only to be possibly killed and to kill others, but to a life after war that may be devastating for them for the rest of their lives. I wrote my draft board of my latest decision and how I had reached it. I told them that I could never serve in the military if drafted as a doctor, and that I would go to prison before I would put on a military uniform.
After visiting York and York Hospital in the late summer of 1969, Wicky and I moved to York in 1970 for my year of internship at the hospital. By the spring of 1971, I was becoming emotionally and physically drained after a decade of study. In order to renew myself and to get reconnected with the real world, I knew I had to do something different. By this time, our first child, Charity, was 8 months old. I knew that, once I interrupted my education, I would be drafted. I discussed my feelings with Wicky and told her of my decision. We discussed all the possible consequences of my action. Wicky was very worried about who would take care of her and Charity since there would be potentially no income. Our last hope was that, somehow, someone in our families would come through.
At that moment, I decided that I could no longer be part of the military if drafted as a doctor.
I decided to force my draft board in Berwyn, Illinois, to make a decision about my commitment to be a CO. I had no help or advice from anyone on how to go about becoming a CO, but I was aware of the CCCO and had their CO handbook that described in detail how to apply formally for this designation. I filled out all of the forms, and wrote an essay about the basis for my beliefs and what had occurred in my life to support my beliefs in becoming a CO. I obtained three letters of support for my beliefs and position. One was from a Brethren minister in York, another was from a friend, Major Beverly, whom Wicky and I knew well in Chicago and who worked for the AFSC, and the other was from Dr. Dave Jones right here in York. I gave my draft board three options for alternative service. One of these options was to be the full time doctor for the Community Health Center that was just beginning in York. Through the efforts of Dave Jones, Herb Dorm (who lived in our apartment building), Edith Lehman, Henrietta Cook, and others, this alternative service was offered to me by the CHC board.
In late June of 1971, I flew to Chicago and on one weekday evening, I drove to my draft board in Berwyn, Illinois, to make my appearance and present my case. Berwyn is one of the first suburbs west of Chicago and is a working class neighborhood. I wore a suit, had made typed copies of my presentation for all members of the draft board, and showed up with a feeling of calmness about me. I had made up my mind that, if they were not going to grant me my CO classification, I was not going to cooperate and they would have to send me to prison, and that is what I eventually told them. While I was waiting to make my appearance before the board, there was another young man sitting next to me who also was trying to get a CO classification. He said that, if the board refused to grant him a CO classification, he was considering shooting himself in the foot and did I think that would then get him out of the military. I told him I didn’t know, and I thought to myself that his conviction to become a CO was maybe not very strong.
I walked into the room with all of the draft board gathered around a table. After some brief introductions, I decided that I must take control of what was going to happen to me. I handed out copies of my presentation to become a CO, with a statement of my beliefs, including the three options for alternative service, with the York option listed first. I immediately presented my case in an amazingly calm way. I told them I was not willing to accept any other option than alternative service. The presentation did not take long. When my presentation was done, various members of the board thanked me for the thoroughness of my presentation, stating that they were especially appreciative of the copies I had made for them. One member said he had a son who was a CO. They also said that, although they could not tell me immediately of their decision, I met the qualifications to be considered for a CO classification for I was already living my life according to my religious beliefs.
I heard of their decision about two months later. They granted me the CO classification including the alternative service in York which had been designated a needy area for underserved health care. Furthermore, since York was far enough away from my designated home, at that time, of Chicago, Illinois, they would allow my alternative service in York to be considered a hardship for me since I would be a long distance from the rest of my family.
I worked at the Community Health Center for two years, voluntarily stayed on for another year, and during my Family Practice residency from 1974 – 76, I took my outpatient office rotations at the Health Center, thus allowing me to continue to see my patients over a five year period of time. It was during this time that I met Jim Mulligan, and when he returned from the Indian Health Service in 1973, we worked together at the CHC for the next four years. We became partners in medical practice until 1994. During the 1970s, Dave Jones was our silent partner in getting us funding for our positions. We not only worked in the CHC in the City of York, but in the four rural health centers, the migrant workers center in Gettysburg, Pleasant Acres, the Juvenile Detention Center, and the York County Prison. And Wicky’s and my interest in peace and social justice have continued since we moved to York.
Like most COs at the time, I knew of no other CO and did not have contact with any other COs. If time allows at the end of our presentations, I will tell you how COs were treated in WWI, WW11, the Vietnam War, as best I know since the end of the draft in 1973, and what the future may hold for young men and women if another draft is held in the near future. I would also be glad to discuss any topic in the handouts I gave to you entitled “Principles of Pacifism” and “Peace Be With You.”
Ken Woerthwein