A Coat of Many Colors Adventists and Operation Whitecoat COVER STORY
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September 24, 1998 AnchorPoints A Coat of Many Colors Adventists and Operation Whitecoat COVER STORY Looking back at Operation Whitecoat BY BILL KNOTT T IS NOT A LANDSCAPE WE ASSOCIATE versial military projects evolved—a project that injected the Seventh-day Adventist Church and more than 2,300 non- with war, but appearances deceive. The gentle, combatant young Adventists into a national debate about the morality of biological and chemical warfare. wooded hills and rich hayfields near Frederick, The History Maryland, have been some of the most con- Only two months before the General Conference of the Seventh- tested acres in American history, though few day Adventist Church was officially organized in 1863, the wartime U.S. Ireminders of that pain and violence remain. Dairy cattle Congress voted to require all able-bod- ied Northern men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register browse the grass where Union and Confederate soldiers for compulsory military service. From its earliest moments, the fledgling church had to negotiate the difficult terrain massed 135 years ago. The cows will never know that the between the commandments of God and the edicts of gov- ernment. pastures they inhabit were the prize for which thousands Beginning in 1862, leading Adventists had passionately argued their differing perspectives about military service in fought and died. the pages of the Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (now the Adventist Review). Abolitionist Adventists main- Thirty miles to the north, the three-day carnage known tained that compulsory military service would aid a righteous as Gettysburg unfolded. Twenty miles to the west, the blood- cause—the destruction of slavery—while pacifists rejoined iest single day in American history played out along the that any participation with the military constituted a viola- banks of Antietam Creek. In Frederick itself, Barbara tion of the sixth commandment—“Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. Fritchie earned literary immortality by daring Stonewall 20:13). Jackson’s troops to “shoot if you must this old gray head” as James White, editor of the weekly Review, suggested a she defiantly flew the Stars and Stripes over the heads of the third and middle way in a landmark editorial in August invaders from the South. 1862. “For us to attempt to resist the laws of the best gov- And within the gates of the U.S. Army’s Fort Detrick on ernment under heaven,” White wrote, “which is now strug- the northwest edge of town, one of America’s most contro- gling to put down the most hellish rebellion since that of 8 (1280) ADVENTIST REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 24, 1998 TOP: A group of Project Whitecoat volunteers at Fort Detrick, Maryland about 1962. ABOVE: A soldier being interviewed prior to signing up. EGLEY H. N H. AVID D Satan and his angels, we repeat it, bear arms but participating in the mili- sands of young Adventists paramilitary would be madness. Those who are tary as noncombatant medical personnel and paramedical training that aided loyal to the government of Heaven, when legally required to do so. their placement as medical corpsmen true to the constitution and laws of United States involvement in World when they were drafted during World the Ruler of the universe, are the last War I (1917-1918) and World War II War II. The recommended “noncom- men to ‘sneak’ off to Canada, or to (1941-1945) again tested the North batant but cooperative” position also Europe, or to stand trembling in their American church’s resolve to cooperate received much favorable publicity when shoes for fear of a military draft.” 1 with compulsory military service and one Adventist wartime medic, HITECOAT PHOTOS COURTESY OF W Notwithstanding White’s editorial, still be obedient to Scripture. Draft laws Desmond Doss, was awarded the most Adventists continued to pay the swept hundreds of young Adventists Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945 ROJECT / P “commutation” fee of $300 per person into military service, creating personal for conspicuous battlefield bravery. that allowed exemption from the draft. hardship for many over Sabbathkeeping Cold War tensions and the threat of OGERS 2 R In 1864, Congress amended the draft and conscientious noncombatancy. continued Communist aggression per- TEVE law to allow some exemptions for those Denominational leaders struggled to suaded the U.S. Congress to maintain S conscientiously opposed to bearing clarify the church’s position to hard- a peacetime draft even when the arms, and Adventist leadership was pressed national governments, while Korean conflict ended in 1953. One quick to claim the new status for church also trying to support individual year later, when the U.S. Army EDALLION BY 3 : M members. A growing body of Adventist Adventists in the military. The church’s Medical Unit (USAMU) approached members and church leaders, however, timely sponsorship of the Medical General Conference leadership with a HOTOS P saw wisdom in a middle way: refusing to Cadet Corps in the 1930s offered thou- highly unusual request, hundreds of ADVENTIST REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 24, 1998 (1281) 9 Adventist men aged 18-26 were still Houston. All Adventist draftees who were married, many of them living being drafted to serve a minimum of had identified themselves as “noncom- offpost in Frederick or suburban 24 months in military service. batants” (1-A-O) were invited to at Maryland.7 least twice-annual meetings with The Army USAMU representatives, during which The Research The post-World an overview of the research program Just as partici- War II discovery of was given along with a description of its pation in the the extent of the benefits and risks. Questions were wel- overall project Japanese and comed and answered in a public forum was voluntary, so German “germ warfare” programs following the presentation. A represen- participation in accelerated efforts by the U.S. military tative of the General Conference’s specific trials of vaccines, toxoids, and to develop adequate defenses against National Service Organization (NSO) other antibacterial medications was also bacteriological and chemical weapons. also was on hand to describe the voluntary. Whitecoat participants were While the attention of the American denomination’s relationship to the briefed about the medical purposes of public in the late 1940s and early ’50s Whitecoat program. Within 24 hours of each proposed human trial and the likely was focused on the more obvious threat the public meeting, interested draftees effects on health. Consent forms were of nuclear warfare, the U.S. Army were interviewed jointly by the again required before participation in launched an intensive and top-secret USAMU and NSO representatives and any project, and individuals were free to effort at Fort Detrick, Maryland, to given the opportunity to sign consent refuse involvement if they deemed the defend U.S. troops and population forms that clearly stated the voluntary project too risky, or for any other reason. from airborne infectious and chemical aspect of individual participation. While there were undoubtedly informal weapons and to respond in kind to a USAMU based selections for the and social pressures to volunteer, first strike by an enemy nation. research effort on such characteristics anecdotal evidence gathered from In late 1954 representatives of the as overall general health, skills acquired Whitecoats suggests that as many as U.S. Army Medical Unit and the office in civilian life, and perceived ability to 20 percent never participated in any of the surgeon general of the Army con- participate in medical research. Survey medical trials during their tenure with tacted General Conference leaders in results suggest that more highly educat- the program.8 Takoma Park, Maryland, to ascertain ed volunteers were preferred; fully 70 Major research projects during the the willingness of the denomination to percent of Whitecoat participants had 19-year life span of Operation support an Army proposal to use completed one or more years of college, Whitecoat included human trials of Adventist draftees as volunteers for with 27 percent having completed a vaccines and antibiotics for some of human trials of defensive vaccines and bachelor’s degree.6 the world’s most dangerous bacterio- antibacterial medicines. Within weeks Whitecoat volunteers were assigned logical agents. Q-fever (Queensland church leaders gave a cautious but to Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, fever), first noted in Australia, is an favorable endorsement. A document to the Walter Reed Army Medical acute airborne infectious disease com- titled “Statement of Attitude Regarding Center, or to the Center Annex in mon in agricultural areas that incapac- Volunteering for Medical Research” was Forest Glen, Maryland, just outside itates its victims for two to four weeks. voted by an appointed subcommittee Washington, D.C. Their identification as The disease had affected many U.S. and forwarded to the Army Medical medical research volunteers didn’t troops in Southern Europe during Unit.4 The four-paragraph statement excuse them from standard military World War II. Owing to research invoked the heroic research of such assignments at their posts. Most served involving Adventist Whitecoats, an medical giants as Louis Pasteur and as medical technicians, medical corps- effective vaccine was developed by Walter Reed as a rationale for men, clinical aides, or animal caretakers 1958, offering hope to both military Adventists volunteering to serve in in Fort Detrick’s massive animal-research and civilian populations in many farm- human medical trials and concluded program. ing regions of the world.9 that “any service rendered voluntarily At peak strength, the Whitecoat Tularemia (Francisella tularensis) is a by whomsoever in the useful necessary program included as many as 175 men highly virulent microbe common to research into the cause and treatment of at a time. This number usually repre- the Northern Hemisphere (including disabling disease is a legitimate and sented less than a third of those who 49 U.S.