Smoke Jumping on the Western Fire Line: Conscientious Objectors During World War II

Voorkant
University of Oklahoma Press, 2006 - 316 pagina's

During the Vietnam era, conscientious objectors received both sympathy and admiration from many Americans. It was not so during World War II. The pacifists who chose to sit out that war—some 72,000 men—were publicly derided as “yellowbellies” or extreme cowards. After all, why would anyone refuse to fight against fascism in “the good war”?

This book tells the story of one important group of World War II conscientious objectors: the men who volunteered for Civilian Public Service as U.S. Forest Service smoke jumpers. Based in Missoula, Montana, the experimental smoke-jumping program began in 1939, but before the project could expand, the war effort drained available manpower. In 1942, the Civilian Public Service volunteers stepped in. Smoke jumping soon became the Forest Service’s first line of defense against wildfires in the West.

Drawing on extensive interviews with World War II conscientious objectors and original documents from the period, Matthews vividly recreates the individual stories of Civilian Public Service smoke jumpers. He also assesses their collective contribution to the development of western wildfire management. By revealing an unknown dimension of American pacifism, Smoke Jumping on the Western Fire Line fills a gap in World War II history and restores the reputation of the brave men who, even in the face of public ostracism, held true to their beliefs and served their country with honor.

Vanuit het boek

Inhoudsopgave

Civilian Public Service
3
Conscientious Objection in America
11
The Historic Peace Churches
36
3
43
Yellowbellies
51
Hard Choices
72
Birth of Smoke Jumping
91
Boot Camp
111
Wild Encounters
171
Eyes in the Skies
185
Under Fire
199
Home away from Home
226
Lifelong Commitment
251
Letters Home
271
Notes
293
Select Bibliography
301

Hit the Silk
134
The Long Wait
146

Overige edities - Alles bekijken

Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen

Populaire passages

Pagina ix - ... conscience has a moral and social value which makes it worthy of preservation at the hands of the state. So deep in its significance and vital, indeed, is it to the integrity of man's moral and spiritual nature that nothing short of the self-preservation of the state should warrant its violation; and it may well be questioned whether the state which preserves its life by a settled policy of violation of the conscience of the individual will not in fact ultimately lose it by the process.

Over de auteur (2006)

A former wildland firefighter and freelance journalist, Mark Matthews is the author of Smoke Jumping on the Western Fire Line: Conscientious Objectors during World War II and A Great Day to Fight Fire: Mann Gulch, 1949.

Bibliografische gegevens