Dear Dods: Letters From A Conscientious Objector in WWII

When Art was drafted in early 1943,it was the beginning of four years service to his country. He first served in a camp for conscientious objectors (CPS) for several months before requesting reassignment as a CO non-combatant in the army. He was assigned for basic training and later Clerks School at an Army Medical Replacement Center in Texas. After three weeks in Pennsylvania preparing for overseas shipment, he was returned to Texas and assigned as company clerk in a medical unit preparing for overseas duty. In a few months Art was assigned to Medical Administrative Officers Candidate School, preparing for his two years of service as an officer. Excerpts from the letters exchanged between Art and his wife, Dods, tell the story.It is a powerful story of a unique wartime experience; not as someone remembered it years later, but as the letters were written, in the heat of the moment, as decisions of conscience and character were required. In letters never intended to be read by anyone other than his “Dods”, this soldier tells of the struggle he and others experienced seeking to serve conscience and country while conscripted into often conflicting circumstances. At no real mission except for the limited time actually fighting fires, well fed and comfortable but troubled over the absence of money for our families, restless over a desire to be true to one’s beliefs and a feeling of isolation from our country’s crisis. In the being pressured not to think, not to ask questions, to follow orders, learn to hate, to kill. But in both situations forming strong friendships with good people and finding satisfaction in doing assigned tasks well. The day by day relating of events make life at CPS and in the army genuine and real and also shares the love and caring between Art and Dods.About eighty percent of this story is told through excerpts from the letters. The letters both at CPS and in the army, give an authentic view from the inside; written more than sixty years ago by a sensitive and talented writer pouring out his heart as he shares his life with his wife. They tell a poignant and often humorous tale that gives unique perspective on life in the army with its regimens, rules, and pack mentality.

When Art Bryant was twelve his father died of meningitis leaving his mother with five children, ages six to seventeen, a mortgaged house, no income and limited insurance benefits. He graduated from high school cum laude one month after his sixteenth birthday. It was 1936; Art went to work immediately to help sustain the family. Art met Barbara (Dods) at church and a year later they were married. He was drafted in March of 1943. The book tells of his wartime experiences until his discharge as a 1st Lieutenant at the end of 1946. Upon his return to the Postal Service he was given increasingly responsible assignments until his appointment as a Postal Inspector in 1951. After a few years of field experience he was assigned to a team of senior inspectors working on a project in the twenty largest post offices. Thereafter he often worked on a variety of special assignments from the Chief Inspector's office while serving in a management position in Denver. For two years, from the Chief's office, he organized and directed a national program of Service Audits in the 100 largest post offices which, over a decade, resulted in savings in excess of a billion dollars and expedited delivery of millions of letters daily. Art was promoted to Regional Chief Inspector and spent his last years in the Inspection Service directing activities in eleven western states. After his retirement at the end of 1975 he owned and operated two Hallmark stores while he and Barbara traveled extensively. In 2008 they marked their 68th Anniversary.