Saturday, August 4, 2018

SDA History: World War 1 (John Benefield)

"John Benefield (in the United Kingdom) was both a baker and a Conscientious Objector. Working in an essential industry he was exempt from the armed service as his skills were needed at home.
Adventist Conscientious Objectors in Dartmoor Prison


..., every few months he had to attend a tribunal in order to re-establish his status. This took place in a court house 13 miles from his home in Bournemouth. As losses mounted the Tribunal became more strict, constantly looking for any loop hole they could to dispatch even essential workers to the front. His granddaughter, Elizabeth Yap, recalls that, “My grandfather attended 13 of these tribunals during the course of the war, leaving his wife and six children at home to pray for a good result.”

 Approximately 130 Seventh-day Adventist young men were conscripted between 1916 and 1918, some serving in Non-combatant corps, others spending time in prisons or work centers across the country." VictorHulbert
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:23