Sage-Tips

What happened to conscientious objectors in Vietnam?

These young men were prosecuted criminally for refusal to comply with draft board orders calling them into military service for the Vietnam War. These were agonizing times. A conscientious objector faced with criminal prosecution had to choose between violating his conscience, going to prison, or fleeing the country.

How were conscientious objectors treated during the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War, which became a flashpoint for controversy in the 1960s and 1970s, provoked many more individuals to claim conscientious objector status. In addition, hundreds of thousands of men, many of whom were conscientious objectors, avoided the draft by leaving the country or refusing to register.

What was the treatment of conscientious objectors?

In the First World War, those who refused to fight in the conflict – known as conscientious objectors (COs) – were often treated harshly and vilified. These attitudes softened, however, over the course of the 20th century.

How were the conscientious objectors punished?

About 600 men declared conscientious objections. Many of those who refused to go were subsequently punished and incarcerated. The following six of them were classed as defiant objectors, arrested and sent to prison.

Do conscientious objectors go to jail?

For those who chose to stand as conscientious objectors, their options were few: join the armed forces and serve in a non-combat role (usually as a medic), volunteer for the Civilian Public Service program, or go to jail. Those men, over 4,400 of which were Jehovah’s Witnesses, went to jail.

Who was the most famous conscientious objector?

Desmond T. Doss
Private First Class Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia, is presented the Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery as a combat medic, the first conscientious objector in American history to receive the nation’s highest military award.

Are Quakers conscientious objectors?

Conscientious objection has a long history and is international in scope. The primary impetus has historically been religious. Before the American Revolution, most conscientious objectors were members of “peace churches” — among them the Mennonites, Quakers, and Church of the Brethren — which practiced pacifism.

Did conscientious objectors get killed?

Over the course of the war, some conscientious objectors were actually taken with their regiments to France, where one could be shot for refusing to obey a military order. Thirty-four were sentenced to death after being court martialled but had their sentences commuted to penal servitude.

How many conscientious objectors were there during the Vietnam War?

During the Vietnam War more than 170,000 men were officially recognized as conscientious objectors. Thousands of other young men resisted by burning their draft cards, serving jail sentences or leaving the country.

Did college students get drafted during Vietnam?

In 1965, a college education was no longer a get-out-of-jail free card for the Vietnam War. College undergraduate and graduate students were automatically awarded draft status 2-S–deferment for postsecondary education–and could not be forced to serve. For those opposed to the war, it was a get-out-of-jail-free card.

What was the name of the conscientious objector?

102 min. The Conscientious Objector is a 2004 documentary film about the life of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who received a Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. Because of his religious convictions as a Seventh-day Adventist, he refused to carry a weapon.

What is an example of conscientious objector?

A notable example of a conscientious objector was the Austrian devout Roman Catholic Christian Franz Jägerstätter, who was executed on August 9, 1943 for openly refusing to serve in the Nazi Wehrmacht, consciously accepting the penalty of death.

How many conscientious objectors served in the Vietnam War?

During the Vietnam War, 170,000 young men in the U.S. received conscientious objector deferments, and performed alternative service rather than going to war as soldiers. A small number of these men, along with others who wanted to contribute to the peace and well-being of Vietnam through peaceful means, did their service in South Vietnam.

What was the Quaker rehabilitation center in Vietnam?

Dorothy Weller: Quaker Rehabilitation Center, Quang Ngai, Vietnam During the Vietnam War, 170,000 young men in the U.S. received conscientious objector deferments, and performed alternative service rather than going to war as soldiers.

What was the alternative service option for conscientious objectors during WWI?

The alternative service option for religious objectors continued during World War I, but those conscientious objectors who based their beliefs on political, moral, or personal grounds were conscripted and punished if they refused to serve.

What did the court in Gillette say about the Vietnam War?

The Court in Gillette declined to provide additional relief to conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War. Gillette had objected to participation in the Vietnam War and had refused induction, but he was not necessarily opposed to all wars. Gillette’s view of his duty was to abstain from any involvement in unjust wars.