Greeting: America and the Draft · Episode 6 of 12 · 24 min
Work of National Importance: The Pacifist Smokejumpers of WWII
Denied a rifle, some World War II objectors parachuted into burning forests instead, for a few dollars a month or nothing at all. Civilian Public Service classified them 4-E, assigned "work of national importance," and left the peace churches to fund their own conscripted labor. At its center are the objector smokejumpers of CPS Camp 103 in Montana, America's first organized parachuting firefighters.
Who's who
- Earl CooleyForest Service smokejumper who trained the CPS men at Missoula
- Roy E. WengerCamp director of CPS Camp 103
- Arthur J. WiebeCamp director of CPS Camp 103
- Lewis B. Hershey+4 more episodesSelective Service director who held authority over the camps
Where it happens
- Huson, MontanaBase of CPS Camp 103, near Missoula
- Seeley Lake, MontanaTraining site for the smokejumpers
- Missoula, MontanaForest Service jumper base
Timeline
- September 1940Selective Training and Service Act provides work of national importance for objectors
- May 1941First Civilian Public Service camps open
- May 1943CPS Camp 103 opens as the smokejumper unit
- 1943CPS jumpers suppress 31 fires in their first season
- April 1946Camp 103 closes after about 240 men served as jumpers
- March 1947Civilian Public Service wound down, with no GI Bill benefits
Still debated
Sources conflict on whether the jumpers were paid about $5 a month or nothing, and dollar totals come from secondary summaries. CPS was itself not voluntary, so whether it was a real accommodation or conscripted unpaid labor is left open. The first Forest Service jumper fatality involved a soldier, not a CPS objector.