Reflection from John Oyer

John Oyer recalled the following regarding his CPS experience:

“In my CPS experience there were several extra-ordinary incidents which have shaped my life. Leaving Goshen to take my physical examination we were sent by bus with registrants intending military duty. I sat beside a kid who contemptuously blew cigar smoke in my face and cussed me out. He was merely mean. A man of perhaps 25 sat in front of us. Afterward he came to me to say I should not have to put up with this and that he was going to war to protect my right to take the CO position. He was favorably impressed with our [there were five of us COs among perhaps 40 men] courage and ability to endure this petty discrimination. On that same bus trip two high school friends, one close, pretended not to know me. They stared through me. I was cut to the quick. I learned what separation from the world could mean."

--Taken from Peace Committee and Seniors for Peace Coordinating Committee of the College Mennonite Church of Goshen, Indiana, “Detour . . . Main Highway”: Our CPS Stories. Nappanee, IN: Evangel Press, 1995, 2000. p 50-2.