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All
of the conscientious objectors sacrificed in some way – either financially
or by giving years of their life in alternative service. But so
did everyone else in Canada during the war years. The soldiers who
died paid an even greater price. So did their families. While the
COs are proud of their service and their pacifist stand, they are
not so arrogant as to ignore Canada 's protection and support.
This
puts the hardships the COs endured into perspective. Sometimes it
is surprising that COs were treated as well as they were. One CO
puts it this way.
“Most
of us at one time or another experienced times of humiliation
during those years in confronting our non-Christian, non-Mennonite
neighbors, especially those who had sons of their own overseas,
some killed in action. I feel much credit is due to these people
who tolerated us in spite of these facts and the friendly relationship
we can enjoy with them today. We Mennonites have much to learn
from our fellow Canadians.” [MHC 1015-24]
 Wilson
Hunsberger felt that his home community knew what he and his church
believed and was never confronted with hostility for it.
Ed
Bearinger shares how family friends who had sons in the military
were respectful of his decision to be a conscientious objector and
treated him very well.
Erwin
Giesbrecht continues on the same theme.
“But,
all in all, I must say the people of our nation were kind and
understanding to us. We were respected wherever we went. The nation,
its people not only accepted our non-resistant stand in days of
great trouble, but also sheltered us from the evil within. In
our homes when thieves came to rob, the government charged the
offenders on their own, without our laying a charge and fighting
for ourselves. We cannot thank our government enough for the shelter
they have supplied when we were molested.”
“We
made a trip to Europe in the spring of 1990. We spent one day
on World War I and another day on World War II fields. I was moved
with compassion when we beheld a cemetery of 21,000 graves of
German soldiers. The American cemetery was much larger and very
beautiful with the green lawns and flowers. All the trials and
tribulations we encountered [as COs] became very small, when we
stopped to meditate about how they all met violent deaths. Many,
no doubt, had come from well-to-do families or were educated,
and all was destroyed…. One could not but feel thankful that our
country had a way for the COs, thankful that our forefathers left
their good farms and climate to start from scratch in a wilderness
country just because they were not satisfied with the CO deal
Russia offered them. We reap the benefits. Let us give God the
honour and glory.” [ASM, 75-93]
W.I.
Enns served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He saw the devastation
war caused in both England and in Germany.
“Back
home we might have complained about inconveniences caused by the
war and of course we were concerned about the lives being lost.
Our inconveniences seemed so trivial when you saw civilians going
through garbage cans looking for food or befriending soldiers
so they would bring food from their camp kitchens. I am convinced
that people in general, no matter in what part of the world, are
basically peaceful and suffer as a result of power struggles,
greed in some cases, long-standing animosity between nation.”
[ASM, 110]
Stories
like this help to put the CO experience in perspective. Millions
and millions of soldiers and civilians died during the Second World
War. Others were injured or endured starvation or the destruction
of their homes and property. These stories, like the stories of
the COs, must be told and understood for us to have a more complete
understanding of war. On the whole, Canada's COs were sincere in
their beliefs, just as, for the most part, Canada's soldiers were
sincere in their beliefs. It isn't easy, but it is important to
remember COs and soldiers both stood up for what they thought was
right.
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