I Refuse: Memories of a Vietnam War Objector

by Donald L. Simons

Simons describes his objections to the Vietnam War, detailing his emotions and convictions during that time

184 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

Reviews

[Cade Charron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald L. Simons’ memoir I Refuse: Memories of a Vietnam War Objector is a memoir about Simons’ life and being a Vietnam War objector. Simons, a graduate of West Virginia University, had a very interesting life as it came to war and being an objector. Donald Simons had a strong opinion of war. He did not like it. Then, he was drafted into the Vietnam War. The quote is him talking about how his draft problems were now “out of control”. “The truth was, my draft problems now felt out of control; I was afraid” (85). The quote talks about how he doesn’t want to go into war because he has grown up around not wanting war and instead wanting peace. So, his problems have fallen out of control due to anxiety and stress.
Simons lives in his old house for the most part of the book. Except for when he is living in his jail cell towards the end of the book. He lives with few people in the book. There is his mother, his intelligent and religious father, and his fellow troops. He tries his hardest to back out of the war. This quote is him talking about his parents and even though they had good qualities they still wanted peace instead of war. “For all their good qualities, even my parents hedged on the issue of war.” (43). The quotes explains how his parents were such good people but how most people within the family has issues with war occurring with our country. Simons’ also has trouble with accepting war, and doesn’t want to take part in it. Then he explains his arrest for refusing induction into the war and what happened during his time in jail. “How could I have been so stupid to think that I had a chance of obtaining justice, when from the beginning from the first induction order I had been denied? The government had me and they knew it; and now, finally, I knew it too” (119). Then he talks about his court case. The last event that occurs is his alienating temporary exile in Canada.
I would definitely recommend this book to other readers but I would mostly recommend this book to adults at the age of 35-50. I say this because the book is from a time period, where it is hard for younger people to understand what is going on if they don’t know about the Vietnam War and if they don’t know about war objection. To add on, most of the characters and people associated with the book are of adult age. These adults might even be able to relate to the book if they were born before the time period. For the most part I liked the book. I thought that the author used very good detail in describing the situation and what happened throughout his life with war. The great detail made the book interesting and eye opening to be able to learn about some of the things that happened in developing and creating our countries history. But, I felt at times, things would begin to get repetitive.
I Refuse: Memories of a Vietnam war objector by Donald L. Simons is a well detailed and intriguing book. Anyone who enjoys war or stories about our country's history, would and should find this book interesting.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot about this book for years and then it came into my head when I was watching some interviews of young Israeli refusniks. This memoir was really terrific and made a huge impression on me when I read it. The author had been a very square, all-American college student, but his conscience turned him almost against his will into a conscientious objector when he was drafted in the Vietnam War. I remember that the draft board told him he had to go to his intake date, where there is no option for someone to decline. When all the inductees were standing in their underwear reciting their oath, he stepped forward and said "I refuse." Then he fought a court case against the US government, and his lawyer had a grand plan to argue the immorality of the war. But the judge did not allow this line of argument, so the distinguished anti-war professor who had cleared his schedule to testify just had to act as a character witness (even though he barely knew the guy) and say that he was a good boy. So he did all this heroic stuff but all the time he was really scared and he was also a very by-the-book person who kept trying to do the "right thing" and follow all proper procedures. But finally it became clear that he was going to have to serve a prison term for refusing to serve, and so he sneaked into Canada and started a new life there. I'm sure there is a lot of other good stuff that I've forgotten, so I would recommend this book and I plan to re-read it.

Edit: I did re-read this on archive.org (although I skipped all the facts and figures about the Vietnam War.) Everything I said is accurate, except they were not in their underwear when they were inducted. I had mashed two different scenes together in my memory. Also he was a grad student, not a college student. The part that stood out the most for me this time is when he was asking his parents and his friends if they thought he should go to Canada, and he finally realized he was looking for permission but that he was the only one who could give it to himself.