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A Conscientious Objector

(Story donated to The Peace Museum, Bradford, UK, and submitted to the WW2 People鈥檚 War project by The Peace Museum with permission of the author鈥檚 wife).

My own War-time Story by Ronald F. Smith

It was at Glastonbury at 11 am on 3rd September 1939. I was in church at St. Benedict鈥檚 where I was a bell ringer, sidesman, Church Council member and assistant secretary of the Church of England Men鈥檚 Society. We had finished our bell ringing calling the good people of Glastonbury to the morning service. We looked at the rear door and in about three minutes, the Verger appeared, looked across to us and nodded. Now we knew. The Prime Minister had announced that as the German Army had not turned back from Poland by the deadline, Great Britain was at war with Germany. It was very hard to concentrate on the service.
I believe we were thinking of other things. There was a lot of sadness. How long would it last? How many millions of lives would be lost before it all ended? We have now been told over 20 million. How many countries would be affected? The lights were going out all over Europe.

Prebendary Townsend, the Vicar, gave me a book soon afterwards, 鈥淭he Christian as a Soldier鈥� or 鈥淭he Soldier as a Christian鈥� 鈥� I cannot remember. However, I read it carefully and prayerfully, but could not agree with it. To me, it was just not right. How could a Christian go out killing people? That was murder. I could not do that. I believed in Peace, not war. One of the sidesmen, my namesake, Mr. Smith told me how he was a Conscientious Objector in the First World War and how some C.O鈥檚 were shot, not officially of course, but you know how there are 鈥渁ccidents鈥� in war.

The Vicar was preaching Peace the week before it started and then preaching War two weeks later. How could that be? Had GOD suddenly changed HIS mind? What was right and what was wrong? Under the Military Act, men were being called up for service by age groups every few weeks. My age group was the seventh. I was age twenty four. I decided I must register as a Conscientious Objector. Glastonbury was a small town and reports of the cases of a C.O. was reported in the local paper. I was refused chocolate in the local sweet shops although I had the necessary coupons and 2 and a half pence. Families were split up on the issue, for the war and against he war. It was extra hard for me because my father was Major Frank Smith M.B.E., who fought in the South African War 1899-1902, and the First World War 1914-1918. He wrote me a letter saying he could get me an easy, safe job in the Pay Corps at Exeter, with him. I resented this attitude. If I were going to war, I would not want some sort of fiddle into a safe job. Of course, I wrote back thanking him, but declining and I explained what I was doing. I had to appear before Judge Wetherhead and his six helpers at a Tribunal in Bristol. I did not know that I had to have references from anyone, so they adjourned my case and I had to go a second time with my references. They recorded me as a C.O. and directed me into Agriculture, Land drainage work or Forestry.

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