Prior to today, I’d never heard about the Civilian Public Service program – that dealt with 12,000 conscientious objectors during WWII. Hmm… They didn’t go to Canada as my generation did. The following excerpt is from an interesting and informative article by Jeffrey Kovac, posted online in the October 10, 2009 edition of OregonLive.com.
Largely overlooked and unmentioned in the discussion of America’s military entanglements in Iraq and
Afghanistan is the story of some 12,000 conscientious objectors who refused to fight in World War II and instead performed free labor in Civilian Public Service camps across the United States.
Motivated primarily by their religious beliefs, these men at 152 camps, including eight sites in Oregon, worked in areas such as soil conservation, forestry, firefighting, agriculture, social services and mental and public health. Some served as subjects in a variety of medical experiments.
The Civilian Public Service program operated from 1941 to 1947 and provided a unique structure for COs to do “work of national importance under civilian direction” as an alternative to military service.
My brother Jasper and I continue to enjoy each other even though he, the older, chose CPS and I served in the US Navy during WWII
Jasper was one of 36 guinea pigs in the starvation unit at the U. of Minnesota. Dr. Ancel Keys was the director of this program designed to learn the best diets for the recovering population in Europe. He also planted trees in Oregon, CPS #46 at Waldport, OR and worked in mental hospitals in New Jersey and Augusta, Maine. His service to our country was much tougher than my 21 months in the USN.